They’re dropping like flies, those embattled-Democrats-in-races-they-were-possibly-likely-to-lose. Chris Dodd is reportedly ready to follow his colleague Byron Dorgan and start collecting his Senate pension next year. (He could always try again from Iowa, where the Dodd family moved for the Connecticut senator’s unsuccessful 2008 presidential bid.)
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter is also expected to announce on Wednesday morning that he will not run for re-election in November. And Michigan’s Lt. Governor John Cherry, whose gubernatorial bid excited few outside his immediate family and yet kept other Democrats from entering the race, will also reportedly exit the race to succeed Jennifer Granholm. With the probable exception of Dorgan, the moves give Democrats a chance to put stronger candidates in place while there’s still time to raise the necessary funds and get a campaign operation going. Anyone else? We’ll likely know within the next few weeks if other Democrats would rather hope for a nice Administration job than face the voters in November.