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US Senator Bob Corker Decides Against 2016 Presidential Bid

www.corker.senate.gov

Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee says he has no plans to run for president.

The former Chattanooga mayor tells WPLN-FMthat he is "very challenged" by his role as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, which he assumed after Republicans took over control of the Senate this year.

Corker said in August that he hadn't ruled out pursuing a presidential bid because he was waiting for a consensus candidate to emerge. He told WPLN on Monday he now thinks the Republican field is "shaping up in a good way."

Just 11 percent of those surveyed in a recent by Middle Tennessee State University poll said Corker should run for president, while 41 percent said he should not.

Corker was first elected to the Senate in 2006.