Kohl Not Running For Re-Election
By Sean Sullivan and Josh Kraushaar
May 13, 2011 | 10:37 AM
Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) will announce this morning that he will not be running for re-election in 2012, a Democratic source tells Hotline On Call, putting a battleground seat Democrats have held for over five decades squarely in play for the upcoming elections.
Kohl is the sixth senator who caucuses with the Democrats to retire this year. Two Republican senators have announced their retirement. Kohl turned 76 years old in 2011 and has been serving in the Senate since 1989.
Wisconsin has been a national battleground, thanks to GOP Gov. Scott Walker's high-profile battle against labor unions and collective bargaining. Already both parties have geared up politically, in a recent high-profile state Supreme Court race and are also preparing for recall attempts against several sitting state senators.
Several high-profile candidates have already been mentioned as possible targets for both parties. Republicans' top candidate would be House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, whose budget plan tackling entitlement spending has made him a national figure. And Democrats could turn to former Sen. Russ Feingold, who lost re-election in 2010, for a political comeback
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http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2011/05/kohl-not-runnin.php