Representative Bob Turner Prepares to Retire Again Representative Bob Turner, dressed for summer in shorts, a polo shirt and boat shoes, descended from his porch to take a stroll along the beach. It was less than a week since he lost the Republican primary to challenge Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, but that was not his only problem. "I just had my bike stolen," Mr. Turner, 71, who lives in the gated community of Breezy Point, Queens, said Monday. His wife of more than 48 years, Peggy, was not surprised. "He never locks it up," she explained. Mr. Turner's magical moment is no more, his pilfered bicycle yet another indignity. Hailed as a Republican hero in September after winning election in a predominantly Democratic area previously represented by Anthony D. Weiner, Mr. Turner saw his district, in Brooklyn and Queens, carved up in redistricting. Then his last-minute Senate campaign failed to stir much excitement among conservatives; he finished second among three candidates, with 36 percent of the vote. Now, unable to run statewide and without a House district in which to compete, Mr. Turner, a successful cable television executive who interrupted his retirement to run for office, is preparing to retire once again. There will be more time for tennis and golf, the two greatest casualties of his time in Washington. And Mr. Turner, a frequent traveler who was also an amateur mountain climber, will add to a world map showing the dozens of trips he has taken, in all seven continents. He will resume daily May-to-October swims in the Atlantic; he called the coldest dips "a test of one's manhood." Two weeks ago, he picked up his racket for the first time in about a year, reclaiming a standing Saturday morning time slot at Breezy Point's asphalt tennis courts that he had held for almost 30 years. Mr. Turner's tennis partner, Lanny Ryan, a lawyer who lives a few houses down, teased him about his game. "I think he realized that eating fast food in D.C. had taken a toll on his stamina when it came to the courts, because he got winded pretty good," Mr. Ryan said. "I think he missed the tennis," he added. We're getting older and a little infirm. But I don't think it measures up to his desire to have had a longer run on the Hill, to complete his education on the job. Mr. Turner noted that, as a retired businessman, before he ran for Congress, "one of the major parts of my schedule for almost five years was that there was no schedule." "Believe me, I was up and ready for this fight, and there's still, I think, a lot to do, and I want to do it," he added as he sipped an iced tea at his dining table. But there's some benefits here, too. In Washington, Mr. Turner had rented an apartment within walking distance of the Capitol, received assignments on the Homeland Security, Foreign Affairs and Veterans" Affairs Committees, and settled into the rhythms of serving in Congress: fly to Washington on Monday, return home on Thursday. Mr. Turner still talks like an outsider. Reflecting on his time in Washington, he called fund-raising "just the most dreadful thing in the world." He questioned his colleagues" sparse attendance at committee hearings: "Forty people on the committee, three people show up - what is that about?" He called the numerical ratings assigned by advocacy groups to lawmakers based on their voting "nonsense." And he pressed for a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution, saying of Congress, "You can't trust these guys," and calling an amendment "the only way to control these people." Mr. Turner's political career began to come apart this winter in a place well known for taking political fairy tales and turning them upside down: Albany. Republicans and Democrats could not agree on how to reduce the state's Congressional map to 27 districts, from 29, to comport with the 2010 census. A federal court put in place its own map, leaving Mr. Turner's house in a district he could not win. Mr. Turner pivoted to the Senate primary, casting himself as the most electable of the Republicans vying to challenge Ms. Gillibrand, a Democrat. But the state's Conservative Party and many upstate Republican leaders were already lining up behind Wendy E. Long, a lawyer, when he declared his candidacy. She went on to win the primary by about 15 percentage points. Mr. Turner will remain in Congress until January, and he spoke enthusiastically of several measures he wanted to pursue in his time left in office. He said he would campaign for Ms. Long and Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, but did not imagine running for office again. One of Mr. Turner's political mentors, Representative Peter T. King, a Long Island Republican, noted that after Mr. Turner's primary loss last week, he was back in Washington the next day, at work and without complaint. "Some people when they lose, they lose their whole existence," Mr. King said. Mr. Turner, he added, "doesn't define himself by being a congressman; he defines himself by being Bob Turner, a husband and father and a successful businessman who also, among his many achievements, scored a miracle victory in a race that most people thought could never be won." "That's a pretty good legacy to have," Mr. King continued. Mr. Turner said he hoped other private citizens would follow his example and consider running for office. "We certainly have enough of the professionals," he said, adding: "Successful businessmen and women probably view this as a scuzzy business. And in a lot of ways it is, and if you're in it, you're going to get tarred. But I think we can dispel some of that.