Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today that he made no promises to persuade Bob Kerrey to run for his old Senate seat in Nebraska.

Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” the Nevada Democrat said he talked with Kerrey “over many, many months,” though he declined to give any specifics of what was discussed.

“Anyone that knows Bob Kerrey knows that you don’t need to make a deal,” Reid added. “He’s running because he wants to run. He loved the Senate.”

Pressed on whether he promised Kerrey would regain his seniority or get a specific job on a committee, Reid said that he couldn’t offer any guarantees regardless.

He noted that he made promises to then-Sen. Arlen Specter in order to persuade him to switch to the Democratic Party in 2009 that he was not able to keep.

“I told Arlen I’m going to try to do something,” he said. “But, hey, as things worked out, more senior Members of the Senate didn’t want to give him seniority.

“So I learned my lesson then. Don’t make any promises.”