They Must Be Doing Worse Than We Thought

Most of the Republican retirements in the House were more understandable because the guys were old and they didn't expect being back in the majority anytime soon. But Mike Ferguson is 37.

After barely defeating Linda Stender last year, Congressman Ferguson says he won't seek reelection in 2008. His announcement is surprising considering he's only 37.

Linda Stender is running again, and the only explanation I have for this is that internal polling showed Ferguson that he'd be blown out next year. Better to run away and come back another day when the national mood is favorable.

We're at around 20 GOP retirements in the House of Representatives, many of them in swing districts like this one. That's not happening in a vacuum. The Republican insiders in Washington are figuring out that Americans generally hate what they've done to the country.