Lieberman leaving the race

I loathe posting unsourced rumors but this one is likely to be true. Joe Liberman is leaving the Senate. He's expected to announce his retirement tomorrow. According to an unnamed person who is close to the Senator, Lieberman "chose to retire rather than risk being defeated."

Don't need to be a soothsayer to see he is in significant danger of defeat. His polling numbers are in the tank and he already has one official opponent. Former Democratic secretary of state Susan Bysiewicz announced her candidacy today. There will be more and the Tea Party Wrestling Woman, Linda McMahon, is said to be toying with running again on the GOP side.

Makes sense for Joe to make a gracious exit and go out on top. In a respectable amount of time he can quietly slip through the revolving door and use his decades worth of contacts to land a corporate job at an obscene salary. Giving up the spotlight will be tough for him I think, but betting he'll make enough money taking corporate welfare for working behind the scenes to take the sting out of it.

Meanwhile, it will be very interesting to see how he handles his last year in office.