CARMONA RESPONDS TO U.S. SENATE RUMORS

posted by Andrea Kelly

Last week reports circulated saying U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' associates were urging former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona to run for Senate.

Giffords' Congressional office spokesman denied the office's involvement, and Rodd McLeod, a Giffords' campaign consultant, said he talks to Carmona but wouldn't elaborate.

Carmona responded via email to AZPM attempts to contact him, confirming that Giffords' associates are among those encouraging him to run for U.S. Senate.

"Over the last couple of months I have been contacted by many elected colleagues and their staffs, many who I know, (on both sides of the aisle) in the US House and Senate as well as appointed officials, encouraging me to consider running for the US Senate seat. I was asked to cite specific names but I did not. I was pressed by the reporter to cite Gabby's staff specifically and I did not but rather said that Gabby's staff, who are also friends were among many others that had contacted me," he wrote.

Carmona said, also via email, he is weighing the difficult decision of whether to run.

"I am doing the internal due diligence necessary to balance the call to national service one more time vs the contributions I can continue to make to community, country and globally in my present positions," Carmona wrote.