Mark Warner Rejects VP Talk, Wants Senate Seat

By Tim Craig and Anita Kumar
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, June 15, 2008

HAMPTON, Va., June 14 U.S. Senate candidate Mark R. Warner took himself out of the running as a potential vice presidential candidate this year, telling about 2,000 delegates at the state Democratic convention that he will say no if Sen. Barack Obama offers him a spot on the ticket.

With Democrats saying that Virginia could be key to Obama's hopes of winning the presidency, the Obama campaign is reportedly considering Warner, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and Sen. James Webb as possible vice presidential contenders.

But in his speech here to officially accept the Democratic nomination for Senate, Warner said he is "110 percent committed" to his race against former governor James S. Gilmore III, the GOP nominee.

"Let me be clear about this: I have been working very hard these last few months to ask the people of Virginia to give me the honor of being their United States senator," Warner said. "I will not seek, and I will not accept, any other opportunity."

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