ANOTHER REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT: BYE BYE DAVE HOBSON (R-OH)

It should come as a surprise to no one that 71 year old Dave Hobson (OH-07) is finally retiring, after 9 lackluster terms in Congress. That's 4 Ohio Republicans who will need to be replaced next year-- Ralph Regula and Deborah Pryce announced retirement and Paul Gillmor died.

The district is pretty Republican, but not prohibitively so. Hobson's margins of victory have been steadily declining. In 2000 and 2002 he won with 68%. In 2004 with 65% and last year with only 61%. Bush is monumentally unpopular in central Ohio with a scant 37% job approval rating. Hobson's 2006 opponent, Bill Conner, a career Air Force veteran, will challenge whichever right-wing maniac, the GOP decides on-- Hobson clone Steve Austria or perrenial candidate William Mitchel.

This morning's Congressional Quarterly has a couple of stories about how all these retirements arer putting the Republican caucuses in both houses in jeopardy. Add that to the cascading disapproval ratings for the Bush Regime and something historic could be brewing.

The local Ohio papers are all bemoaning the fact that Ohio is losing so much seniority-- and power-- because Pryce, Regula and now Hobson are retiring. Seniority in a shrinking minority party doesn't mean a lot and if Ohio is on the cutting edge of electing Democrats in a new Democratic surge, they'll be far better off.