Lawyer, former lawmaker and ex-Supreme Court justice Phil Talmadge is giving up his quest to become governor.

Talmadge said Thursday that he has a benign tumor, called an angiomyolipoma, on his kidney. It's not life-threatening, he said, but may require surgery that would keep him off the campaign trail for several weeks.

Talmadge was one of three Democrats seeking the job, and his fundraising had lagged behind the others': Christine Gregoire and Ron Sims.

His campaign suffered a serious setback recently when the powerful state teachers' union opted to back Gregoire. Talmadge had also raised eyebrows in Seattle by blasting big state tax breaks for Boeing.

"I wanted to be forthright with people as governor, and I think I stuck with that throughout the campaign," he said Thursday. He said he'll likely get back into politics in the future.

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