Steve RoseSteve Rose                                                                                  

Well, that didn't last long.

Steve Rose, the Johnson County Sun publisher who had announced last week that he was running for Congress, said this morning he's withdrawn.

The culprit: His G.I. doctor.

"It is with deep regret and tremendous disappointment that I must report to you today that my G.I. doctor has pulled the plug on my Congressional campaign," Rose wrote in an e-mail blast to supporters.

"As you may know, I have suffered from Crohn’s Disease for more than 40 years. It has been dormant for the past ten. In the past 10 days, however, under the extraordinary stress of the campaign, I have had a major flare-up.

"I won’t go into the gory details of inflammatory bowel disease, but suffice it to say I have lost a lot of blood and seven pounds in that short period. The doctor says if I keep it up, I can look forward possibly to surgery."

Rose said he had already raised $72,000 in cash in the nine-day duration of his campaign and had another $32,000 in pledged commitments.

"This combined $104,000 commitment, for both the primary and general elections, may be a record in such a short period," he wrote. "That, plus my own commitment of $250,000 would have put us way ahead of any opponent or prospective opponent."

He added:"For whatever it’s worth, the preliminary polls showed I had a name identification of 60 percent of Republicans, with a two-to-one favorable vs. unfavorable rating. This would have been a great advantage in the campaign."

Rose said he would return all checks and would "personally absorb" campaign costs to date.

Oh, he said in a postscript that his front-page Sun column would return next week.