Former Omaha Mayor Hal Daub is dropping out of the 2008 Republican Senate race.

Daub has scheduled a news conference in Omaha on Friday to make the announcement.

Although Daub was not available Thursday to confirm his intentions, informed sources said he has concluded there is no way he could successfully compete with Mike Johanns in the GOP race.

Johanns, a former two-term Nebraska governor, resigned last week as U.S. secretary of agriculture to return to Nebraska to enter the Senate contest.

A poll taken last week by the National Republican Senatorial Committee reportedly showed Johanns with a commanding early lead in the GOP scrap.

Daub, who served in the House of Representatives for four terms during the 1980s, had been off and running with TV and radio ads following a statewide tour of all 93 counties this summer.

It would have been Daub’s third Senate bid, following an unsuccessful quest for the GOP nomination in 1988 and a 1990 defeat at the hands of Democratic Sen. Jim Exon.

Still in the 2008 Republican race are Attorney General Jon Bruning and Schuyler businessman Pat

Flynn.

Bruning has released results of a poll commissioned by his own campaign that showed him within nine points of Johanns with neither reaching the 40 percent mark. The attorney general on Thursday questioned the legitimacy of the reported National Republican Senatorial Committee results.

Daub formally announced his candidacy 10 days ago during a two-day swing across the state.

“I will stir the pot and create a meaningful discussion,” he promised during an airport news conference in Lincoln.

Daub pledged to oppose immediate withdrawal from Iraq and support a tough immigration policy centered on border security.

Earlier, Daub resigned as Republican national committeeman to enter the race for the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel.

Daub, 66, represented metropolitan Omaha’s 2nd District in the House of Representatives from 1981 to 1989 and served as mayor of Omaha from 1995 to 2001.

Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or at dwalton@journalstar.com.