Gov. Chris Gregoire called the White House on Tuesday and told them she does not want to be considered for the U.S. solicitor general post.

"She explained that she does not want to be considered, and just said now is not the right time for her or the state," said Karina Shagren, a spokeswoman for the governor.

Gregoire last week said she was considering pulling herself out of contention to replace Elena Kagan as the solicitor general.

White House officials in May confirmed that Gregoire was on their list to replace Kagan as the solicitor general, if Kagan was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Kagan was confirmed last Thursday.

Gregoire previously fueled speculation she might take the job, if offered, by saying "if the president of the United States looks at you and says 'the country needs you to serve, I'm asking.' I don't know what I'd do."

But in an interview last week, Gregoire said, "I really can't think of a worse time for a governor to leave the state. It has nothing to do with me. Any governor."

Gregoire said she was going to talk to her husband, Mike, over the weekend about whether to pull out now.

"I want to think about things over the weekend. About whether I should just say, no I don't want to put myself in the position where the president would look at me and say I'd like you to serve. I don't know how I'd personally handle that situation. So I'm asking myself ... do I just say I don't want to be put in that position."

Gregoire said one thing she'd been considering "In the back of my mind, whether I should just call the White House and say, you know, you haven't called me but for the record ..."