Sen. Jim Webb Is Retiring

Democratic Virginia Sen. Jim Webb announced today that he wouldn't seek reelection in 2012, after only one term. That means we, the public, won't get an exciting rematch between him and ex-Sen. George "Macaca" Allen after all.

Why is Jim Webb doing this to us? He's an old military guy who never seemed to enjoy the daily bullshit flame wars of politics. He was a Republican for much of his life, and served as Reagan's Navy Secretary, before turning to a very receptive Democratic party over his opposition to the Iraq War. This made him a great candidate in 2006, when Iraq was still the major election issue. Now that that war is grinding to withdrawal, Webb probably has other exciting life opportunities he wants to tackle. He turns 65 today, for example, so he'll be too busy playing with his Medicare to weigh in on matters of governance.

This is a major open seat for 2012 now. Who'll replace Webb on the ticket? The spotlight is on former Virginia governor and current DNC chair Tim Kaine to run. Otherwise Republicans will win that seat, unless the candidate is George Allen and he discovers new arcane racial epithets to fuck over his entire campaign.

Here's Webb's statement:






[Image via AP]