Barr decides against an attempt to return to Congress

ATLANTA - Bob Barr said Tuesday will not seek a return trip to the U.S. House.

The former four-term Georgia congressman had been weighing whether to challenge U.S. Rep. Tom Graves in a newly drawn congressional district in the northwest corner of the state. Barr told The Associated Press on Tuesday he was encouraged to run and gave it serious consideration.

But he said his livelihood practicing and teaching law would suffer.

``I'm a working stiff and this would have been a 24-7 effort,'' Barr said in a telephone interview.

Barr said he would back Graves, a tea party favorite serving his first full term.

A fiery former federal prosecutor, Barr gained national prominence as the first lawmaker to call for President Bill Clinton's resignation over the Monica Lewinsky scandal and was one of the House prosecutors who pressed the impeachment case in the Senate.

In 2008, Barr ran as the Libertarian candidate for president, arguing both parties were addicted to spending.

A former state legislator, Graves was first elected to the U.S. House in 2010 to fill the remainder Nathan Deal's term. Deal left Congress to run for governor.

In a statement, Graves called Barr ``a statesman, always fighting to empower the taxpayer.''