Bob Kerrey is done for now

By Richard K. Barry

If there is one thing political amateurs frequently don't get it's that losing is brutal. Even in the most obvious no-hope scenario, every candidate thinks that if everything goes right, he or she might just pull it out. Maybe in those cases a loss doesn't hurt so much, but I doubt it. And in those instances in which a race ends up being down to the wire, it's impossible to grasp the disappointment of the candidate who has come up just short.

Democrat Bob Kerrey has said that he has no plans to run for the U.S. Senate seat in 2014 being vacated by Republican Mike Johanns. Last November, Kerrey lost to Republican Deb Fischer in a race for the other Nebraska Senate seat, and it would appear he has simply had enough of banging his head against the wall in this very red state. 

It's not like Kerrey hasn't had his share of success. He is a former governor of Nebraska and represented the state for two terms in the Senate. I think it does soften the blow to have been "to the show," as they say in profession baseball, but losing always sucks.

Who knows? Maybe he'll change his mind, because the faintest possibility of success can often make a potential candidate forget about the pain of defeat. That's the other side of the coin. It's why being a politician requires a certain degree of insanity. 

For now, he seems to be done.