Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) to Retire in 2014 … Stated Last Week, Obamacare was a “Train Wreck”

Another one bites the dust at the hands of Obamacare … Another opening for the GOP in 2014. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, the Democrat Senator from Montana announced that he will not run for reelection in 2014 and instead retire. According to the Washington Post, rather than face a tough election, Baucus would rather retire. The six term Senator obviously sees the handwriting on the wall. Obamacare is still unpopular and going to get worse as America wakes up and realizes the expensive boongoogle that it is. Baucus was a key player and played a critical role in writing President Obama’s national health-care plan, Obamacare. However, last week Baucus referred to the Obamacare as a train wreck. Think the conservative state of Montana was not going to hold that against him in 2014? Also, just last week he also voted the expand back ground checks on the purchase of guns. Don’t worry Max, not like Montana is one of the states with the highest gun ownership at 57.7%. Oh wait, it is.

Baucus, 71, first elected in 1978,has been the top Democrat on the powerful committee since 2001. At times infuriating his Democratic colleagues, Baucus worked with Republicans to co-write the Bush-era tax cuts and the Medicare prescription drug plan, but he also served as the lead defender against George W. Bush’s 2005 effort to partially privatize Social Security and played a critical role in writing President Obama’s national health-care plan. Baucus, from conservative-leaning Montana, has voted against Democratic initiatives on some social issues, most recently last week’s effort to create an expanded background check system for gun purchases. Republicans have been trying to land a top recruit to challenge Baucus, who despite his unpolished public image has been one of the savviest political operators among Mountain West Democrats.

As Weasel Zippers stated, it was obvious that Baucus’s polling showed that because of his liberal ways, he was going to get crushed. According to PPP polling, Baucus was already running 5 points behind hypothetical Republican candidates, although he may never have made it out of the Democrat primary. This does not bode well for Democrats in the Senate. If the GOP could actually get their collective heads out of their RINO, establishment butts, they should take this seat. According to Charlie Cook this moves the seat into the toss-up category. Democrats, so far, have to defend 21 seats, while Republicans have to defend 14. The GOP needs a net gain of 6 seats to regain the Senate. Although, Wake Up America opines that out of the 21 Democratically held seats, seven of them are in states carried by the former Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, while just one of the Republican seats is in a state won by President Obama. Are they just getting old or has the Obama bloom truly come off the rose? Baucus joins five other committee chairmen who have decided to retire rather than run for reelection, including Sens. John D. “Jay” Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), 75, chairman of the commerce committee, and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), 73, chairman of the health committee. In the 2010 and 2012 election seasons, several other chairmen, including Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), opted to retire.