Indiana House Speaker decides against running for U.S. Congress

After years of coaching his sons' baseball team, Indiana House Speaker John Gregg missed his first practice in April. Gregg, a popular conservative Democrat from Sandborn, found himself too caught up in trying to reach a last-minute budget agreement with Senate Republicans.\nThat's when he made up his mind.\nGregg, who has led House Democrats since 1994, ended speculation Thursday that he might run for Congress in the state's newly drawn 8th District.\nHe doesn't want to uproot his family and doesn't care for the idea of commuting to the nation's capital.\n"I just came back from a scout camping weekend," he said. "I've been coaching baseball for eons, and my wife (Sherry, a Knox County Circuit Court Judge) is very involved with the church.\n"I spend a lot of time with my family and I couldn't imagine getting on a plane to Washington Monday morning and not coming back until Thursday."\nMany Democrats -- including House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt -- had tried to convince Gregg to mount a bid to unseat four-term incumbent John Hostettler, a conservative Republican.\nGregg said he also received several calls from political consultants interested in managing a campaign. But the only conversation that mattered was with his sons, John, 9, and Hunter, 7.\n"I went over it with them," he said. "And I couldn't say that either was in favor. My youngest son was worried that I wouldn't be famous anymore -- he and his friends from school see me on the TV channels all the time."\nUnder new redistricting maps, the district's boundaries were extended northward to include Vigo County, which includes the working class and heavily Democratic Terre Haute. Gregg said the new lines were not drawn with his possible candidacy in mind.\nBut it was still a possibility he strongly considered.\n"I went back and forth," he said. "I changed my mind from day to day, hour to hour."\nThe district has earned the nickname the "Bloody Eighth" because of its close and contentious elections. Gregg, who has a strong rural political base, doesn't doubt for a moment that he would have successfully slid into national politics.\n"I would've beat Hostettler like a drum," he said. "The 8th district deserves representation."\nMichael Jahr, Hostettler's Washington spokesman, said the congressman had no comment at this time. Hostettler hasn't yet formed a reelection committee, and his Washington office can't discuss campaign matters.\nEven with Gregg out of the picture, Democrats expect to pick up the seat in 2002.\n"Gregg would've been a great candidate," said Douglass Davidoff, communications director of the Indiana Democratic Party. "We think the district is slightly more Democratic after redistricting. And we think we'll pick it up -- there's a lot of potential talent in that district."\nWhile Davidoff can't discuss races until after the primary, Gregg didn't hesitate to toss out a few names. He said there are a number of other Democrats in his caucus who would make strong candidates, including state Reps. Russ Stillwell, D-Boonville, and Jonathan Weinzapfel, D-Evansville.\nGregg doesn't discourage rumors that he could be tapped as a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor in 2004.\n"I'm not ruling out anything," he said. "I'm still in the House. I've just decided not to run for Congress."\nGregg planned to make his announcement in late May. But he decided to push it up after watching his Sandborn Blue Jays lose a game at Freelandville 15-11.\n"It comes down to family and baseball," he said.