Davis Confirms He Won't Seek Senate Seat

"Once you tear off the scab of the Republicans' moderate-conservative fight, it's very difficult to put it back together," Davis said, adding that he and Mark Warner share the same moderate base in Northern Virginia.

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"Nobody's unbeatable, but he's formidable," Davis said. "Mark is a very affable guy, and he's got a lot of money. And he's got a formidable organization around the state."

Davis also said that he will support the party's nominee.

He said it is too soon for him to decide whether he will try to retain his House seat. But he said he held a fundraiser yesterday and attended the annual Vienna Halloween parade Wednesday.

"We'll talk about that another day," he said. "The rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated."

Until yesterday, Davis had said he would wait until after the Nov. 6 elections to make a final announcement about his Senate plans. Even as word of his pending statement leaked yesterday, he said publicly that he was looking at numbers and keeping his options open.

Such apparent inconsistencies reflect the difficulty of the decision and Davis's habit of "thinking out loud," Devolites Davis said.

The Davises said they are exhausted after two years of nearly nonstop campaigning, for his reelection last year and her campaign this year. The thought of facing another race, they said, is wearisome.

"When's the last time we took a Saturday off and went to a football game and went out to dinner?" Davis asked yesterday. Running for Senate, he said, would mean "another year without any of that."