Hagel Says He Would Consider Presidential Run as an Independent

By Nicholas Johnston

May 4 (Bloomberg) -- Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska said he would consider entering the 2008 presidential campaign as an independent.

An independent bid ``is possible,'' Hagel, 60, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television's ``Political Capital with Al Hunt,'' scheduled to air today. ``I don't ever foreclose any options.'' He will decide in the next few months whether to run for a third Senate term, pursue the presidency or leave politics altogether, he said.

On Iraq, Hagel was one of two Senate Republicans who voted for legislation -- vetoed by President George W. Bush earlier this week -- to withdraw U.S. troops from the Middle Eastern country. Hagel laid out certain conditions for him to be able to support a compromise to end the debate.

He said he would ``seriously'' consider a Democratic proposal to fund the war temporarily. It further must require that troops sent to Iraq are fully trained and equipped and have sufficient time between deployments, he said.

Hagel said he probably will oppose New York Senator Hillary Clinton's call to revoke the Senate's 2002 resolution authorizing the war in Iraq and force Bush to seek new approval.

Hagel today became the first Senate Republican to suggest that World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz may have to step down. He faces a ``very difficult'' time continuing to lead the organization in light of questions about his involvement in arranging a transfer and pay raise for a companion, Hagel said.

To lead requires ``trust and confidence,'' he said. ``If that is gone, and that is squandered, then you can't lead.''

Dinner with Bloomberg

Hagel had dinner in Washington on May 2 with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has also been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate. Hagel said they talked about their families, politics and Iraq, and there was no discussion about teaming up for a presidential campaign.

``We have a lot of common interests,'' he said. ``But no, there was no talk of any ticket.'' Bloomberg is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.

Hagel said the U.S. is politically unpredictable and he would have to ``see how the political world develops'' before making any decision about running as an independent.

This is a different tone than Hagel sounded during a March 12 news conference in Omaha, Nebraska, when he said he was postponing an announcement on a presidential bid. At that event Hagel said: ``I am a Republican. I believe I will continue to be a Republican.''

Iraq

Hagel has been one of the sharpest Republican critics in Congress of the Iraq war, calling it ``the most significant, dangerous foreign policy blunder this country has made, maybe ever.'' Congress has ``constitutional responsibilities'' to change the course of the war, he said.

Lawmakers are working on a new $124 billion military spending measure after Bush's veto of a version this week that contained a troop-withdrawal timeline. Hagel said the more than $20 billion in non-military spending should be cut from a final legislation.

``We need a new policy and strategy,'' he said. ``Some parameters have to be put around our continued involvement there because if we don't do that, we send the wrong signal to the Iraqis and we send the wrong signal to the American people that we're not listening to them.''

Hagel said he's concerned about sectarian violence in Iraq spreading throughout the region.

``If this Sunni-Shia problem in Iraq would get out of control and flip over into a regional civil war, then we would have the most dangerous, combustible, complicated problem that we've ever had in the Middle East,'' he said. ``It would drag us in even worse than we are today.''

Hagel praised the content of former Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet's new book ``At the Center of the Storm,'' yet criticized Tenet's failure to make public any concerns about the administration's description of the threat posed by Iraq before the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion. ``It looks pretty self-serving,'' Hagel said of the book.

``Tenet had an opportunity, as did others in the administration to step into the breach,'' Hagel said. ``And I even suggested to some at very high levels that they might have to resign if they really felt that this was a huge mistake.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Nicholas Johnston in Washington at njohnston3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 4, 2007 14:13 EDT

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