In the end, all the personal ambition and optimism in the world could'nt defeat the Nassau County Republican Committee.

At least in the case of former Congressman Dan Frisa, who was hoping to score his political comeback this year by taking back his old seat in the Fourth Congressional district from Carolyn McCarthy.

It was McCarthy, who, after a bitter race, sent Frisa packing two years ago.

In the end, Frisa said that he decided to drop his bid to run in a Republican primary against Assemblyman Greg Becker, the candidate chosen by the party's leadership, for personal reasons.

"For now, until Danielle gets into college, it's a good time to be a dad and a husband," the Salisbury resident said, referring to his 13-year-old daughter.

He said the decision was a mutual one, reached, reluctantly, after several long talks with his wife, Jane.

His departure from the race doesn't mean there won't be a Republican primary in the congressional district this year; a congressional district that runs from the Nassau/Queens border into New Cassel, Levittown, and Freeport.

Though workers at the Nassau County board of elections say that Becker came in with an overwhelming number of petition signatures -- 1,250 must be collected during the month of June in order to qualify to be on the ballot -- Pat Maher, an East Meadow Republican has also apparently filed signatures in excess of the required number.

Regardless of whether there is ultimately a primary or not in the fourth congressional district, whoever becomes the Republican candidate will face an uphill battle against the incredibly popular incumbent.

Frisa's departure from the race ends a quixotic eight-month campaign to regain his reputation -- sullied in the Frisa/McCarthy race of 1996 -- and mend fences with members of the local Republican organization's rank and file.

In a series of interviews in recent months, both in the print media and on television and radio, Frisa sought to portray himself as a regular guy who made good and who was a good representative for the people of his community, both in the New York State Assembly and in Congress.

McCarthy effectively ended Frisa's political career by attacking his vote to repeal the Federal Assault Weapons Ban. Frisa has always maintained that his vote was misconstrued; that what he was voting against wasn't the spirit of the law, but what he saw as a law with no teeth.

After announcing his decision to leave the race, Frisa was asked by reporters whether he was really bowing out -- as many Republican committee people have charged -- because he hadn't collected enough petition signatures.

Frisa said this was absolutely not true and that in fact, he had collected more than 3,000 signatures.

Last week, a few days before Thursday's filing deadline, however, Dan Grindlinger, Frisa's campaign spokesman, had told a reporter that signatures were indeed a problem.

Asked if his candidate might not make the ballot, Grindlinger offered a hesitant, concise response.

"That's always a worry," he said.