GOP Congressman Steve LaTourette (R-OH) will retire from congress

[WI_DEM]

Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-OH), who surprised nearly everyone by announcing his retirement last night, is holding a news conference in Ohio at 10:00 am ET.

Politico: "LaTourette was one of the last of a dying breed -- a moderate, union-friendly Republican who stood up to the right flank of the House Republican Conference. In the 112th Congress, it put him at odds with a good bulk of his GOP colleagues, including, at times, his longtime friend and ally, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH). But LaTourette's political isolation within the party was at odds with his ambition within the House Republican Conference. He wanted to resume his place toward the top of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, according to several GOP aides."

First Read: "Trust us folks, this press conference has the whiff of 'score settling' written all over it."

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/07/31/what_will_latourette_say.html

given that he was a "moderate, union-friendly republican" do dems have a realistic chance of picking up this district????

[Proud Liberal Dem]

1. It really sucks

that these so-called "moderate Republicans" always seem to wimp out and decide to leave Congress instead of staying to try and fix their party? They would be more valuable to their constituents and/or the institution if they would stay and try and set an example for the rest of their party to follow than to simply quit and "get out of Dodge". The only thing that is *achieved* by moderates dropping out of the GOP is that what's leftover are the rabid extremists. I would also add that, despite their apparent disgust for the extremists in their party, I don't think that this guy (or Snowe for that matter) ever really stood up to and/or "bucked" their party over anything during most of the last 3-4 years and have pretty much voted the party line, so I'm going to be really disgusted if the corporate media spends a bunch of time fawning over Mr. LaTourette and his supposed "independence" like they did with Snowe.

[longship]

2. "Give a man a reputation as an early riser...

...and that man can sleep until noon."

Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens, an American writer of some note.

Give a Republican a reputation as a moderate and they can vote as extreme as they want and will still be known as a moderate.