Topeka ? Congressman Dennis Moore told fellow Democrats on Saturday that he would not run for the U.S. Senate next year.

And Moore’s preferred candidate, former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, said he wasn’t planning a campaign, either. However, a few prominent Democrats prepared to work on Glickman.

Democrats are looking for a strong candidate to challenge Republican Sen. Sam Brownback in 2004, someone who is known to voters and can raise between $2 million and $3 million in campaign contributions.

As they gathered Saturday for the events surrounding their annual Washington Days convention, party activists were inspired by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ victory last year.

But Moore told a luncheon audience of about 350 people that he planned to seek re-election in the 3rd Congressional District, which covers Johnson and Wyandotte counties and part of Douglas County.

“I looked hard at this,” Moore said. “I have decided I’m not going to run for the U.S. Senate.”

The audience was quiet when Moore made his announcement, the silence punctuated by a few groans of disappointment. Then, they applauded his decision to seek re-election.

Some Democrats turned their attention to Glickman — including Moore.

“I could gratuitously suggest that somebody like Secretary Glickman would be a great candidate,” Moore said.

Glickman served nine terms as 4th District congressman before Republican Todd Tiahrt ousted him in 1994. After serving in President Clinton’s administration, Glickman became director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University.

He received an enthusiastic reception from Democrats when introduced. He had already said he had no plans to run for office, but he also hadn’t discounted the idea.

“You never rule anything out in this business, but I’m not planning any campaigning and I’m not raising any money,” Glickman said.

Glickman, who spoke Saturday morning to a group of fellow Democrats about involving more young people in the political process, suggested Sebelius’ successful campaign could inspire the Kansas Democratic Party to reinvent itself.

But if Glickman isn’t going to challenge Brownback, he is likely to disappoint many party members.

Sebelius said of a potential draft-Glickman movement, “I’m ready to push it along.”

And state Rep. Tom Sawyer, of Wichita, the outgoing state party chairman, told of Glickman’s statements, responded: “Well, the persuasion is going to start.”

Kansas Democrats often have trouble fielding good U.S. Senate candidates, in part because of the state’s Republican heritage.

Brownback remains a formidable political figure. He raised $2.3 million for his first U.S. Senate race in 1996, when he won the right to succeed Bob Dole, who left Congress to become the GOP nominee for president. The Democratic nominee was Wichita businesswoman Jill Docking.

Moore told fellow Democrats he found campaigning every two years grueling, something that made the six-year term for senators attractive.

But he said he concluded as a representative, “There’s more work to be done.”