WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns evaded questions Wednesday about whether he will run for the U.S. Senate from Nebraska.
"On the last day that I am there, whatever that day is, I am going to be able to identify a list of things that we are still working on, whether that be the last day of the administration of before that," he said at a meeting of the National Pork Producers Council in Washington.
The Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald reported Wednesday night Johanns planned to resign Thursday morning and run for the seat being vacated by Sen. Chuck Hagel, Republican, who announced last week he would step down when his term ends in January 2009.
A run by Johanns -- an Iowa native and a former Nebraska governor -- would make him the fourth declared Republican candidate for the seat.
If Johanns resigns, he would leave the U.S. Department of Agriculture before Congress passes a new farm bill, the newspaper said.
When asked at the pork-industry meeting if he would put off announcing a possible candidacy until the farm bill was worked out, he said his staff was qualified to follow the bill process.
"No federal department is about one person," he said. "Ideally, if I've done this right, I've brought to the USDA the best people to work on these policy issues, because you know what, we do leave at some point."
