Another Democrat has surveyed the political battlefield for 2010 and has decided to retreat.
Vic Snyder (D-AR), a 7 term incumbent, announced his retirement yesterday. From Politico's Scorecard:
Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.) announced tonight that he will be retiring at the end of his term, citing the difficult political environment that he would have faced to win an eighth term in the House."2010 will be a robust election year during which great forces collide to set the direction for our country for another two years," Snyder said in a statement.
"I have concluded that these election-year forces are no match for the persuasive and powerful attraction of our three one-year old boys under the leadership of their three-year old brother, and I have decided not to run for re-election."
He was one of the most vulnerable House Democrats, with a SurveyUSA poll released today showing him trailing his Republican challenger Tim Griffin by 17 points.
Snyder is the 11th House Democrat to announce his retirement. -- and Republicans are aggressively contesting nine of those open seats. Griffin, a former U.S. Attorney, was mounting a vigorous campaign against Snyder and had already banked over $300,000 for his campaign, according to a GOP source.
The seven-term congressman hadn't been raising any money for a tough re-election and his campaign account was virtually empty.
That last is significant. Liberal activists have refused to donate money to several Blue Dogs and Snyder particularly was in their crosshairs. The fact that Snyder had trouble raising cash points to a problem other Blue Dogs are having with the rabid base of the Democratic party; they aren't liberal enough and the far left doesn't like it.
The GOP has had 14 retirements to date, but most of them are in safe Republican districts. Given how 2010 is shaping up to be a Republican year, the more open seats due to retirement that come up, the closer the GOP will come to flipping the House.
Hat Tip: Ed Lasky
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