Reno considering run for Florida governor

Reno, speaking to reporters in Florida on Monday, is expected to make an announcement Tuesday.

By Judy Woodruff
CNN

KENDALL, Florida (CNN) -- Former Attorney General Janet Reno is expected to announce Tuesday that she is taking steps to pave the way for a possible gubernatorial run in Florida, sources said.

"Stay tuned," Reno said Monday, when asked by local reporters about her plans.

Reno, a Miami native, returned to her home state early this year after serving eight years as the top law enforcement officer in the country during the Clinton administration.

She is expected to announce Tuesday that she is filing paperwork that will allow her to designate a campaign treasurer and begin to raise money for a possible run.

VIDEO CNN's Judy Woodruff and Bill Schneider examine the potential of former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno entering the Florida governor's race (September 3) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

If she runs and wins the Democratic nomination, Reno, 63, would likely face incumbent Gov. Jeb Bush, the brother of President Bush.

Tuesday's announcement is expected to come in the form of a press release, and a formal announcement about an actual candidacy would likely come later.

Reno stressed Monday that it was premature to say she was a candidate.

"I have not made a final decision yet," she said, adding that she was still talking to people about a run. "I want to make the wisest decision I can." Reno attended a Labor Day picnic for South Dade County Democrats. People greeted her as if she were already a candidate, wishing her luck and shaking her hand.

"We need somebody like you," one elderly woman told Reno. In return, Reno talked like a candidate, saying people are looking for "common sense" answers.

RESOURCES Message Board: Reno for governor?

A Reno candidacy would supercharge what is already one of the hottest 2002 gubernatorial races. Many Democrats would love to see Gov. Bush defeated as a payback for the Florida presidential dispute, if nothing else.

A controversial figure in Washington, Reno served as Dade County state's attorney for 10 years before joining the Clinton administration.

Her record as attorney general was controversial, particularly her leadership during the Branch Davidian crisis in Waco, Texas, and various investigations of Clinton and then-Vice President Al Gore. Her decisions led to criticism from both Democrats and Republicans at times.

She disclosed her possible interest in a run for the governor's office in May, and at that time, she discounted the suggestion that her Parkinson's disease -- a neurological disorder that causes involuntary tremors -- would hurt her prospective candidacy.

"If you could survive eight years in Washington, with the press corps in Washington, with Congress in Washington, and go at it as I did, and then come home and kayak down the Chattooga, the Nantahala and the Ocoee in three days and come out of it without having stumped your boat, you're doing pretty good," Reno told CNN in May. "I think I can do it, otherwise I wouldn't be here."

If she decides to run for governor, Reno would likely face a battle for Florida's Cuban-American vote because of her handling of Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy who was rescued off the Florida coast on Thanksgiving Day in 1999 only to be seized by U.S. authorities many months later so he could be returned to his father in Cuba.

"I don't expect that I will get people to agree with me," she said of the Cuban-American community, "but I think that they will come to understand the reason I did what I did."

The state's sizeable Cuban-American population remains angry over the decision, but there are now as many non-Cuban Hispanics in the state as Cuban-Americans.