The real reason Stupak quit

Dorothy Johnson, Chair of Michigan’s First Congressional District, agrees.

“Bart is not afraid of a fight, nobody scares him off or could get him to quit,” she says. “From the very beginning, health care was his first priority. I think its been mission accomplished — he’s tired it’s time to try something else.”…

In announcing his decision he admitted he had considered retiring several times before. At one point there had even been chatter about his running for governor, but he always thought there was one more job to be done. Now, he says, his “main legislative goal [healthcare] was accomplished.”

A close friend says he suffered over this conclusion, talking it over with Laurie and son Ken for the better part of last week before deciding he was ready to go. “It’s time for him to make money,” she says. “He’ll back and forth between Washington and Michigan and probably become a lobbyist or something like that.”