Hagel Out

Chuck Hagel, won't be running for president. He made the unlikely statement this morning, underscoring why I was worried about his candidacy: everyone assumed he was announcing his candidacy, because no one calls a press conference to announce that there's nothing to announce. Hagel is the true maverick in the party, and that's why he was the one candidate who was dangerous to Dems. But it's a good-news, bad-news thing; his straight-talk candidacy would have given the GOP a scant margin of credibility back, but it would have also made things more interesting. Now it's back to the old-man, cross-dressing, Mormon circus. Ah well.