Why The Retirements?

More and more Democrats are seeing the inevitable handwriting on the wall - they cannot possibly win re-election because they've followed Barack Obama off the cliff.  The latest casualties?

Senator Chris Dodd --- one of the people most directly involved with covering up the Fannie/Freddie scandal that began the initial economic meltdown, Dodd is also a member of the Friends of Angelo Countrywide scandal.  His retirement should be in a 6x6 prison cell.

Senator Byron Dorgan --- North Dakotans oppose DemCare (which Dorgan voted for) by a whopping 64%, and one poll shows Dorgan trailing a potential Republican challenger by more than 20 points.  The headline at Ace of Spades sums it up: "Byron Dorgan (D-ND) Retiring This Year To Spend Time With His Family And Avoid Getting His A** Kicked But Mostly To Avoid Getting His A** Kicked".  This is a shocker because he's an incumbent...but he's also a 'moderate' Democrat (hahahahaha...!) in a red state, and that's going to be a vicious combination for the near future.

On the House side, RedState gives us a summary which includes 11 Democrat retirements or resignations in numerous states.  If you follow the link, you'll see 12 Republican seats being vacated as well, but there's a key difference - every single Rep is moving on to run for higher office, while over half of the Dems are simply bailing out of public office.  Coincidence?  I think not.

And it's not just Congress.  Democrats are taking serious heat simply for being Democrats.  Colorado Governor Bill Ritter is the first Governor to declare he won't run for re-election, but he likely won't be the last.  It's a general toxicity, and Dems in general seem to be inflicted with it right now, as indicated by the GOP leading a generic Congressional ballot by 9 points, their highest point in years.

All this begs the question: if these Democrats are so certain that what they're doing is truly in the best interests of the American people, why are they finding such a sudden interest in retirement?  We don't need to think too hard to come up with the answer.

There's my two cents.