Another Dem Retires From Congress

A Congressman holding AR-6 seat, Marion Berry will announce his retirement tomorrow. I expect that this will be the first in a wave of announcements following the shocking victory by Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts this past week. Mr. Berry is the sixth Democrat in a competitive district to make this announcement in the past two months.

"The message coming out of the Massachusetts special election is clear: No Democrat is safe," said National Republican Congressional Committee communications director Ken Spain.

Berry, first elected in 1996, had been noncommittal about his re-election bid for months although, privately, his allies insisted he was planning to run for re-election.

While Mr. Berry hasn't been effectively challenged in the past 10 years, his district voted for John McCain in the last presidential election by 59%. This is just another indication that for the first time in a generation, nearly all of the seats in the House of Representatives is in contention.

It's been estimated recently by Michael Barone, of the Washington Examiner, that there are only 103 safe seats for the Democrats in the upcoming election. That means that nearly 176 seats in the House are virtual tossups. I believe that if Mr. Obama continues to push his socialist agenda, that as many as 100 of those may change hands in November, as well as many as 16 of the 17 Democratically held seats up for reelection in the Senate this year.