KSG Professor To Run for Senate Seat

A. Lamar Alexander, a former presidential candidate and a professor at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), made an unexpected reentry into politics yesterday, officially kicking off his campaign for U.S. senator from Tennessee.

Launching his candidacy on the six month anniversary of Sept. 11, which overshadowed his announcement on major national media outlets during the day, Alexander pledged his support for the war on terrorism.

“We are now in a dangerous time for our country, but a time that brings out the best in us,” he said.

Alexander, who announced his candidacy from his hometown of Nashville, said the timing of his declaration was not deliberate. In fact, he said, he decided to run only recently—after incumbent Senator Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) said last Friday he would not seek re-election—and had to make an official announcement quickly in order to meet an April 4 qualifying deadline.

“I just looked at our country,” he said, “and felt if you have a chance to serve you should.”

Alexander, who is Goodman visiting professor of practice in public service at KSG, made unsuccessful bids for the Republican presidential nomination in the 1996 and 2000 elections. He served two terms as Tennessee’s governor in the 1980s and was secretary of education in the Bush administration in the early 1990s.

Alexander said he was “optimistic” about his campaign’s chances and said he hoped to raise $4 to $5 million to fund his bid.

Alexander is an “outstanding public servant” and possesses solid qualifications to be senator, said Mickey Edwards, Adams Lecturer in Legislative Politics at KSG and a former member of Congress from Oklahoma.

“I think that Lamar would be a superb member of the Senate,” he said.

Yesterday’s announcement forced Alexander to cancel today’s meeting of his KSG class, entitled “The American Character and America’s Government.”

In an e-mail to his students, Alexander said he planned to hold class next week and assured them that the campaign would not prevent him from finishing the course.

KSG Dean Joseph S. Nye said he met with Alexander last week and decided that he should complete the semester.

“The main thing is he wants to finish his course,” Nye said.