AP
Breaking: Tom Harkin won’t seek reelection
The 73-year-old Harkin tells The Associated Press in an interview, “It’s just time to step aside,” because by the time he would finish a sixth term, he would be 81.
Harkin said it would also allow a new generation of Democrats to seek higher office.
The announcement comes as a surprise, considering he had $2.7 million in his campaign war chest and was planning a fundraiser next month.
Blowback
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Ever notice the tendency for political movements that fail to still impact the US in a way that if you didn’t know better you’d swear the movement succeeded? A good example is the fight in the seventies for the ERA. If you fell into a coma in 1979 and woke up to find that we’re going to have women in combat, wouldn’t you think the ERA had passed?
The relevant example of this in the Harkin story is the ’90s struggle for term limits. It failed, but between Harkin, Chambliss, and DeMint’s recent announcements it’s almost like we do have term limits, caused by politicians deciding they just can’t take D.C. anymore.
radjah shelduck on January 26, 2013 at 10:46 AM
Harkin’s long years of combat in Vietnam finally caught up to him, he needs to take time and reflect on those gritty years of death and violence.
Bishop on January 26, 2013 at 10:47 AM
Sign he plans on voting for whatever gun control measures are proposed in the senate?
Kataklysmic on January 26, 2013 at 10:47 AM
Like with Al Qaida and the Taliban I am sure another “quality” person will step in.
CW on January 26, 2013 at 10:49 AM
Forgot the sarc tag.
Of course, he could spend retirement swapping stories with Hilllary on how they ducked bullets – Harkin in Vietnam, and Hillary at Tuzla.
Wethal on January 26, 2013 at 10:50 AM
Well, the midterms are an election with Obummer…
trigon on January 26, 2013 at 10:52 AM
Without Obummer…
trigon on January 26, 2013 at 10:53 AM
Two predictions… This could be a good Republican pick-up opportunity. Perhaps the lieutenant governor. And Ryan, Rubio, Jindal, etc. will all feel that it is their duty to the party to spend lots of time in Iowa “helping” the candidate chosen win.
Illinidiva on January 26, 2013 at 11:05 AM
So far Harkin (D), Chambliss (R), Rockefeller (D) – not running in 2014 – any more?
Dasher on January 26, 2013 at 11:06 AM
Money which he now gets to keep. Plus his Senate pension and free lifetime healthcare. Yeah, I’d retire too and spend the days with the grandkids.
rbj on January 26, 2013 at 11:16 AM
I like Steve King, but I have a bad feeling he will pull an Akin/Mourdock
commodore on January 26, 2013 at 11:18 AM
2014 Senate Preview: Can Republicans Finally Turn Potential Into Reality?
November 29th, 2012
*******************
Before looking ahead at the Republicans’ prospects to gain the six seats they need to win control of the Senate, it is first important — though for Republicans, painful — to look back at the past two Senate cycles.(More..)
http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/2014-senate-preview-can-republicans-finally-turn-potential-into-reality/
===========================================================
Inside the 2014 Senate Races
Posted at 9:11 p.m. on Nov. 28, 2012
************************************
http://atr.rollcall.com/inside-the-2014-senate-races/
canopfor on January 26, 2013 at 11:26 AM
Good riddance, scumbag. In a Senate crammed with obnoxious kleptocratic creeps like Reid, Schumer, Durbin, Boxer, Menendez and McCaskill, this federal welfare whore is pound-for-pound the worst of the bunch. No doubt the national media will rush to cram a Vilsack down our throats, but at least this a-hole won’t be around much longer.
fitzfong on January 26, 2013 at 11:34 AM
Hmmmmmm……..
Report: Sen. Harkin won’t seek another term
By Jeremy Herb – 01/26/13 10:54 AM ET
*************************************
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) will retire at the end of 2014, he told the Associated Press Saturday.
Harkin’s said his decision not to seek a sixth term was based in part because he wanted to give a new generation of Iowa Democrats the chance to run for higher office.
“It’s just time to step aside,” Harkin, 73, told the AP.
Harkin’s decision to retire makes Iowa a ripe target for Republicans as they try to flip at least six seats to win back the Senate.
While Harkin was likely in for a contested race if he had run for reelection, he had $2.7 million in the bank already, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) did not rule out a 2014 Senate run in November, regardless of whether Harkin would have run.
“I have a consistent record. I think people know me,” he said, arguing his views wouldn’t be “an impediment at all.”
Ten-term Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa) is the other Iowa Republican in the House. A primary between King and Latham could follow the tea party vs. establishment narrative that has played out over the past two cycles in Republican primaries.
On the Democratic side, possible candidates include Rep. Bruce Braley, who has also talked about running for governor, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and his wife Christie Vilsack, who lost to King in a 2012 run for Congress.
Harkin, who was one of the few Democrats to vote against the fiscal-cliff deal, passed on the chance to chair the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee in November. He opted instead to say at the head of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
He is the second Senate Democrat to opt to retire rather than run for another term, as Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) announced earlier this month that he would not run in 2014.
Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss (Ga.) also said Friday that he would retire at the end of his term.
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http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/279485-report-harkin-wont-seek-reelection
canopfor on January 26, 2013 at 11:36 AM
One of the biggest dirtbags in the Senate. Good riddens. .
Jaibones on January 26, 2013 at 12:23 PM