Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) is retiring at the end of his term, and it’s a loss for both Democrats and Republicans.
The Democrats lose one of Congress’s most passionate and articulate critics of the Iraq War. The Republicans lose an incumbent in an election cycle in which their ranks are already vulnerable.
Former Nebraska senator and governor Bob Kerrey, a Democrat, is considering emerging from retirement to run for Hagel’s seat, and the odds he would get it are high. Add in the fact that John Warner, a Republican, is vacating a Virginia senate seat that will likely be won by Mark Warner, a Democrat, and you’ve got what looks like a much small minority for the GOP.
By the way, there was once tons and tons of buzz around a Hagel candidacy for president. I was a somewhat–tongue-in-cheek proponent. I never really wanted the man to be president, but he was principled, reasoned, rational, and sincere. He’ll be missed.
Update: Ed.-in-Chief Clara Jeffery writes in and speculates that Hagel’s retirement clears the way for him to be Hillary’s Secretary of Defense.
