Thank you all very much for your kind comments today.

I appreciate your thoughts and supporting my decision NOT to run for re-election. Below is the Daily Mail article from Justin Anderson that ran today, I thought it was a good summary of the day.

I do appreciate serving and it has truly been an honor. What I have said all throughout the day, is HEY, I’M NOT leaving yet!! I still have about 17 months yet to serve the people of Kanawha County.

In addition, I received a great deal of support for the new business and I’m very much looking forward to helping other candidates in fundraising and ground campaigns. You’ll read more right here about the candidates I am helping.

See below for the Anderson article:

Sprouse says he won’t seek Senate re-election

After 14 years in the Legislature, Republican Kanwaha Senator Vic Sprouse announced he wouldn’t run for reelection next year.
Sprouse, former minority leader, said today he has started his own consulting firm and plans to be heavily involved in political campaigns and fundraising.

“I want to do that work and I think you need to be out there fairly early,” Sprouse said.

He said he also announced his plans so early to clear the path and give other GOP candidates time to get their acts together and run in 2008.

There’s been speculation lately about his intentions to run for reelection, he said. A lot of his campaign organizers and volunteers have been hounding him for answers.

“I don’t want to keep them on the line,” Sprouse said.

His current term in the Senate ends Dec. 1, 2008.

Financially, professionally and personally, Sprouse said, he couldn’t see running another campaign.

“It would be a full 18-month commitment for me,” he said.

On his blog, Change West Virginia, Sprouse said he has some “serious financial obligations” and his political life detracts from his ability to earn money.

He also cites his age, 38, as a factor. He said he has to start thinking about the future, like retirement.

“Most people don’t enter politics until their 40s and 50s anyway, mostly after they are already financially secure, and I suspect I’ll be running for something again at some point in the future,” Sprouse wrote.

Sprouse was first elected to the Senate in 1996, representing Kanawha County’s 8th District. He was chosen Senate minority leader in 1998 and served in the post until this year, when he stepped down and was replaced by Sen. Don Caruth, D-Mercer.

In the 2004 election, he fought off a challenge by former Supreme Court Justice Margaret Workman, scoring a 12 percent lead.

As part of her campaign, Workman raised questions about Sprouse’s 2002 divorce, his second of three, and she distributed direct mailers and ran a television ad criticizing his values.

Similarly, during his 2000 bid for re-election, Sprouse came out ahead in a heated race with former Delegate Mark Hunt, who referenced several incidents from Sprouse’s personal life in his campaign.

During an interview this morning, Sprouse said the attacks on his personal life were another reason why he’s decided not to run.

Considerable controversy has surrounded Sprouse’s recent divorce from Amy McKinley, his third wife, who has publicly accused Sprouse of not helping out enough with the medical bills for their ill son.

On his blog, Sprouse said his personal issues would not have hampered his chances at getting re-elected.

“In fact, hearing more and more people saying I couldn’t do it makes me want to prove even more that I could win re-election,” Sprouse wrote.

“No, my personal reasons for not running aren’t about my past, they are about my future. Obviously, serving in the Legislature hasn’t done wonders for my personal or married life.”

Sprouse said on his blog he wants to devote more time to his future with his girlfriend, Lesleigh Barber.

“I’m very, very pleased with where I am personally right now,” Sprouse said on the blog. “So, why mess that up and put a huge stress on it with what will amount to a bloody battle for re-election?”

When asked today whether wedding bells might be in Sprouse’s future, he said, “That’s one of the nice things about not running again. My personal plans are my personal plans.”

He also pointed to political redistricting in 2010. Sprouse speculated he would end up in a Democratic district he couldn’t win.