Former Republican Sen. John E. Sununu announced Wednesday he will not run for New Hampshire's open Senate seat in 2010, forcing Republicans to continue their search for a top flight candidate.

"Representing New Hampshire in the United States Senate is a great honor, but effective public service is much more than just a desire to hold office," Sununu said in a statement.

"It's essential that the timing fit both personally and professionally." He noted the technology firms where he has committed to work and the sacrifice a campaign would place on his family as reasons for not jumping back into politics.

Despite Sununu's ouster last fall, by Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, Sununu would have been an important recruit for Republicans, who have yet to field a major candidate in the race.

Former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu, the current Republican state party chairman, told the Portsmouth Herald during an editorial board meeting earlier this week that his son, former U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu, will soon decide whether to enter the 2010 Senate race.

And the elder Sununu, a former governor, added that he expects the GOP field to clear for his progeny.

"I will use my warmth and my charm to make sure that if it is a primary, there is a constructive primary or if a primary can be avoided, I will do that," Sununu said. When asked if he would prefer to avoid a primary between his son and Republican state Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, he responded: "I think if my son runs, there will not be a primary."

Former New Hampshire Sen. Robert C. Smith announced Monday that he is once again officially a candidate for the Senate - this time for the open seat in Florida.

Smith, who served in the Senate from 1991 to 2003, has lived in Sarasota, Fla., for seven years. He joins a GOP primary field that includes Gov. Charlie Crist and former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio for the seat Republican Mel Martinez is leaving after one term. Four-term Rep. Kendrick Meek announced his candidacy in January and is the leading Democratic in the growing field of candidates.

"I can no longer sit on the sidelines in this fight for the soul of the Republican Party and to preserve the freedoms and values of our constitutional Republic," Smith said in a statement posted on his Web site. "I have 18 years of proven and principled conservative leadership and I proudly wear the scars of those battles... I led the fights for protecting freedom and liberty, respect for the Constitution, the preservation of the Second Amendment, the rights of the unborn, U.S. sovereignty, a strong national defense, cutting taxes and spending and reducing the size of government."