It's been the world's worst-kept secret for the last three days or so, but this morning George Voinovich made it official: he's hanging it up in 2010, leaving behind an open seat in a swing state where the recent momentum has been with the Democrats.
In a statement from his office, Voinovich emphasized that he wanted to spend his final two years in the Senate focusing on legislating instead of campaigning.
"These next two years in office, for me, will be the most important years that I have served in my entire political career," Voinovich said in a statement. "I must devote my full time, energy and focus to the job I was elected to do, the job in front of me, which seeking a third term - with the money-raising and campaigning that it would require - would not allow me to do."
All eyes turn to the ensuing musical chairs now; Roll Call, like most outlets, posits ex-Rep. and ex-OMB Director Rob Portman as the likeliest GOP candidate (although with no mention of John Kasich as a backup; instead it offers retread Mike DeWine and nutjob Ken Blackwell as other options). As always, we'll keep you posted as hats get thrown into the ring.
UPDATE: Well, that was fast. Politico's Scorecard is already reporting that Rob Portman is getting in the race and will announce his candidacy shortly. Let's see if that has the effect of clearing the field.
UPDATE, part deux: On the Democratic side, Politico is now reporting that Rep. Tim Ryan is making loud public noises about "certainly consider"ing the Senate race, while Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher's surrogates are saying that he is "leaning against running." I wonder if we could have both fields cleared within the next few days?
