Ogonowski out of Mass. Senate race

(NECN) - After falling just short of the number of signatures needed to make the Republican primary to run against Sen. John Kerry, Jim Ogonowski has decided he will give up his bid for the Senate. Ogonowski sent an e-mail to supporters Friday afternoon, saying: "I have made my decision regarding the future of this US Senate race. Clearly, we had some issues this week regarding signatures. Mistakes were made along the way. But, any good military officer knows that when you are in command, the responsibilities are yours alone. The buck stops with me and I take that responsibility. There has been and will continue to be a lot of Monday morning quarter-backing and people trying to figure out what happened. But, the truth is, it doesn't matter. We could play that game all day long. But, the facts are the facts. For a variety of reasons, we did not meet the signature requirements. And at this time, I have decided not to pursue this endeavor. I provide a sincere thank you to those that stood by me. I am sorry that we did not succeed. I ask for patience as my family and I move forward."