Think Progress and Big Orange, both quoting Roll Call, are reporting that Dennis Hastert will announce his resignation/retirement from Congress tomorrow. His departure will be effective before the end of the year, and will force a special election to fill his seat until the 2008 general elections.
This was widely rumored to be likely after the Republicans lost control of Congress and, despite some wishful thinking in Left Blogistan to the contrary, it really does seem likely to me that the biggest motivating factors in Hastert's decision are his declining health and a profound discontent at having to give up the speakership--especially to Nancy Pelosi. Many of us had hoped that Hastert, who was strongly implicated in the Mark Foley coverup, would be forced out when that scandal broke, but it didn't happen.
Doesn't matter. The important thing, for this district, for Illinois, and for the country as a whole, is that Fat Denny will no longer sully our good name in Congress. My one worry is that the unstated reason behind his decision not to wait for the inevitable loss in '08 is that he wants effectively to anoint his successor--quite likely Aurora dairy magnate, homophobe and overt racist Jim Oberweis Überweiß. The good news, if that scenario plays out, is that Überweiß is, if I remember correctly, 0-for-4 in statewide races. He spent a ton of money trying to best Jack Ryan and six other contenders for the Republican nomination to run against Barack Obama a couple of years ago, and couldn't hack it then. I don't see him performing any better in a district that is heavily Hispanic, particularly after his infamous "brown people" ads from that failed Senate primary get resurrected and played repeatedly on local Spanish stations.
As the screaming queen in the fedora is wont to say, "Developing." Providing the weather doesn't get in the way tomorrow, I'll try to keep this story updated--but we may be in for a late-season pounding, according to the National Weather Service.
Oh, yes, mustn't forget. Drop a few spare coins in the kitty for the best of the Democrats running to replace Hastert, John Laesch.
Update I: The Politico has now taken up the Hastert-to-resign refrain, but quotes an unnamed "GOP aide" as saying the announcement, originally planned for Oct. 17, will be postponed. We'll see. Kinda pointless to reschedule after the horse is already out of the barn, but Hastert always was manipulative.
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