Christopher D. Heinz said yesterday that he will not challenge U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Bradford Woods, for her House seat in the 2006 elections.

Pennsylvania Democratic officials were thrilled last year when Heinz -- the youngest of the three sons of the late Sen. John Heinz and Teresa Heinz Kerry, and stepson of Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass. -- said he would consider challenging Hart.

In a telephone interview from New York yesterday Heinz said that while he was honored that some had encouraged him to run, from a personal standpoint he never "really embraced the idea" of running at this point in his life.

"Politics is one of the only places in America where it doesn't help to be the eager, young guy," said Heinz, 32.

"I'll wait until I feel like I'm ready to do it, because if I ever did it, I wouldn't do it to get out of it."