Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist won’t be seeking the Republican nomination for governor of Tennessee in 2010. The physician-turned-politician was considered a lock for the nomination had he decided to run. Frist says in a statement that he has, quote, “decided to remain a private citizen for the foreseeable future.” He adds he'll continue serving the people of Tennessee.

Frist served as a faculty member at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University for nine years prior to his election to the Senate in 1994. He returns to the school this week as a University Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Business. Frist is teaching under a joint appointment by the Owen School of Management and the Vanderbilt University School of Business.