Gwinnett Daily Post

ATLANTA - Former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn said he has no plans to become a member of Democrat Barack Obama's cabinet should the Illinois senator capture the White House.

'I'm not interested in getting back into government,' Nunn told reporters in Atlanta on Wednesday.

'I am happy in the private sector and I'm confident this is were I'm going to stay,' said Nunn who's chief executive officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a Washington-based group designed to fight the global spread of nuclear materials.

Nunn is a top national security and foreign affairs adviser to the Obama campaign. Now age 70, he's frequently mentioned as a possible secretary of defense. His name was also in circulation as a vice presidential prospect for Obama.

Nunn said Wednesday he'd be happy to serve Obama 'in an advisory capacity.' But he said he's had no talks with the campaign about a cabinet spot.

When he retired from the U.S. Senate in 1996, Nunn was regarded as the chamber's leading authority on foreign and military affairs. He served as an influential chairman of the Armed Services Committee.

Nunn said Wednesday that he believes Georgia is 'in play' for Obama although he allowed that it was an uphill fight. Georgia has voted reliably Republican in recent years.

Nunn praised Obama's grassroots efforts.

'This is one of the most competent campaigns that we've seen in the history of this country, both from a financial point of view and an organizational point of view,' Nunn said.

'This is an unusual election. I don't think it's going to divide straight down the liberal conservative lines of the past,' Nunn said.

Georgia Republicans maintain that GOP candidate John McCain will carry the state. McCain holds a modest lead in recent polls in the state, which has not awarded its electoral votes to a Democrat since Bill Clinton in 1992.

Nunn used the news conference Wednesday to discuss Obama's qualifications to turn around the floundering economy and improve the nation's standing on the world stage.