House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey is the latest high profile Democrat to throw in the towel ahead of the 2010 midterm elections. Despite the fact that Obey had been a fixture in Washington since 1969 he clearly feels that even he wouldn't be able to withstand the tsunami of opposition sure to crash on liberals' shores this November. Politico has the story:
In a major blow to Democrats, House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey has told close associates that he will not seek re-election and an announcement of his plans is expected as early as Wednesday. The Wisconsin Democrat faces tough poll numbers at home, but until Tuesday night his staff had insisted he was running aggressively and had hired campaign staff. But a person close to him confirmed the decision to POLITICO Wednesday and said Obey was preparing to make a statement.
The last we saw of Obey he was being ambush interviewed by Human Event's Jason Mattera. While Obey ran away from Jason's tough questions one of his staffers decided to try and physically pin Jason's cameraman (who happened to be me) against the wall to prevent the embarrassment from being caught on tape:
This is yet another huge win for conservatives and a drastic warning for liberals... and we are still months away from November. Make no mistake, however, there is still much work to be done and many hard races to be won. But, even at this early date, we have much to celebrate and look forward to!