WASHINGTON--Democratic officials said Monday that retired Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez is expected to run for the u.s. Senate in Texas, Democrats a high-profile recruit to the seat being vacated by GOP Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not competent to discuss private conversations with Sanchez.

Sanchez is a retired Army Lieutenant General and Commander of the coalition forces in Iraq was when revelations about prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib became known. He got from his command in June 2004 and has since maintained that he never authorized torture in prison. He retired from the army in 2006, the Abu Ghraib scandal of the blame for his retirement.

Sanchez would be the first prominent Democrat to search Hutchison the seat. Last week, said senator Patty Murray, D-Wash., who runs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, that they expected to be a strong candidate in Texas. Two Democratic officials with firsthand knowledge of Murray's plans, she said, referring to Sanchez.

The Associated Press reached Sanchez by telephone at his home in San Antonio, but Sanchez asked the reporter to call back in a few minutes. When the number was chosen, the phone was disabled and went directly to voicemail. He did not immediately return a message.

Sanchez is so far the only prominent Democrat in the race to replace Hutchison, Republicans have in the row for a shot at the seat. Frontrunners are rich Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, former Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams and current Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones. Other GOP candidates are former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert and former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz. Hutchison announced in January she would retire at the end of its current mandate.

Despite the taint from the scandal of Abu Ghraib would Democrats Sanchez a credible candidate. They call his military background, centrist bona fides, ability to tap into Texas money, a growing pool of Hispanic voters and a potentially fractious Republican primary.

Matt Canter, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, a statement in which he spoke warmly of the retired general.

"General Sanchez has spent his entire life in our own country, and there is no doubt that he would be a strong candidate if he decides to continue to serve his country in the Senate," Gallop said. "He has a huge life story, arms, rose to the rank of General in the army, and courageous leads more than one hundred thousand troops in both Gulf Wars growing up."

Sanchez served as the Commander of US troops in Iraq from 2003 to 2004. That time included the revelations about abuse at Abu Ghraib. Sanchez was never directly linked to misbehavior--and maintains he had no knowledge about events in prison--but the issue is certain to come as the race enters.

Since leaving the military, Sanchez has written a book and openly critical of U.S. military strategy in Iraq, particularly the swing. He has also called himself a "progressive" in an interview, as well as a fiscal conservatives.

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