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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, November 08, 2002

US Democratic House leader Decides to Quit

US Democratic House leader Dick Gephardt said on Thursday that he will not seek another term as the minority leader.


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US Democratic House leader Dick Gephardt said on Thursday that he will not seek another term as the minority leader.

Gephardt, in a statement, said he was leaving the post he has held for eight years because "these are new times and they call for new ideas and bold action."

Gephardt, from Missouri, said it was time for him "personally to take a different direction, look at the country's challenge from a different perspective and take on this president and the Republican Party from a different vantage point."

The 61-year-old Congressman, who has long signaled his interest in running for president in 2004, did not talk about the presidential election.

Gephardt's decision to quit came after the Democratic Party suffered a heavy loss in Tuesday's midterm elections.

The Republican Party increased four seats in the House of Representatives and also captured the control of Senate from the Democratic Party in the elections, despite historical trends that the party holding the White House loses seats.

Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the minority whip, and Democratic Caucus chairman Martin Frost of Texas, immediately plunged into a race to succeed Gephardt for House Democratic leader after Gephardt announced plans to step down.

The "lame duck" Congress will begin on Nov. 12, and the new 108th Congress is scheduled to convene on Jan. 7 next year.


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