Duckworth won't run for lieutenant gov.

CHICAGO, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Assistant U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Tammy Duckworth said Tuesday she will not run for Illinois lieutenant governor.

An Iraq War veteran and a double amputee, Duckworth ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2006. She joined the administration of President Barack Obama and continues to serve in the Illinois Army National Guard.

"I made a commitment to President Obama and our nation's veterans to serve at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and I want to fulfill my promise before returning home," Duckworth said in a statement, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Illinois Democrats have been looking for a candidate for lieutenant governor since Scott Lee Cohen -- who won the Feb. 2 primary election -- withdrew from the general campaign Feb. 7. The Tribune said Gov. Pat Quinn had Duckworth at the top of his list of preferred potential running mates.

"I think it was an agonizing decision for her," Quinn said of Duckworth's decision against running for statewide office.

Cohen, a pawnbroker, dropped out of the campaign following revelations that in a 2005 domestic battery case his girlfriend at the time was a prostitute who accused him of threatening her with a knife, and the charge was dismissed only because she failed to appear in court. He admitted using steroids and has been named in dozens of lawsuits in connection with back taxes.