73 Year Old Iowa Democrat Senator Tom Harkin Won’t Seek Re-election in 2014 … A Possible Opening for the GOP

RUR-ROH, there will be one less incumbent “sure thing” Democrat Senator running for reelection in 2014.

73 year old Iowa US Senator Tom Harkin as stated that he will not run for reelection in 2014. In a some what surprise move by the liberal Harkin, the Democrats will now have to defend an open seat in 2014. Tom Harkin has served in the US Senate since 1985  and has served in the Senate longer than any Democrat in Iowa’s history. Harkin also served 5 terms in the US House of Representatives and was an early frontrunner for the Democrat presidential nomination in 1992 because of the Iowa Caucuses, but dropped out along the way to the eventual winner Bill Clinton. As reported at the Des Moines Register, saying “it’s somebody else’s turn”.

Sen. Tom Harkin won’t seek re-election in 2014, the Iowa Democrat said Saturday.

It’s just time to step aside,” the 73-year-old Mr. Harkin told the Associated Press, noting that by the time he would finish a sixth term, he would be 81. He said his decision would allow a new generation of Democrats to seek higher office.

The announcement comes as a surprise, considering the senator has $2.7 million in his campaign war chest and was planning a gala fundraiser in Washington next month. Mr. Harkin is a leading liberal in the Senate, serving as chairman of the health, education, labor and pensions committee and having served as a key salesman of President Barack Obama’s 2010 health-care bill to the wary left.

Tom Harkin is presently serving in his fifth term and is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. He is ranked as the most senior junior senator, as well as the 8th most senior Senator overall. Sorry, this is just a perfect example and cry for term limits, nothing more.

Hmm, one has to wonder whether Republican House Rep. Steve King might run for the seat in 2014?