News Summary

Sen. George Voinovich announces his decision not to seek re-election only half a year after he said he'd be willing to run for vice president. But such is life. It speeds up after a certain age, and people find themselves thinking seriously about retirement sooner than they had expected to.

Sen. Voinovich gives two reasons for leaving: family and his desire to concentrate on serving the next two years — which are looking momentous — without being distracted by a campaign.

However attractive to him the idea might have been of serving in the Senate through his 70s, or being vice president, or even running a several-month national campaign, it's understandable if running yet another, longer, tough statewide campaign was another thing entirely.

He leaves with an admirable, independent record. However, his record shows the difficulties and limits of independence.

When he balked at the last Bush administration tax cut, he became the decisive vote. He was able to foster an expiration date on the cuts.

But such partial victories are rare. He sees himself as the Senate's most ardent opponent of deficits. He has opposed some Republican budgets and tax cuts. But, when push has come to shove, he has supported the big-ticket spending items: a new prescription drug benefit in Medicare, the Iraq war, the bailouts of financial institutions and the auto industry, last year's "stimulus" package (with checks mailed out to taxpayers), and this year's pending "stimulus."

Sometimes his moderation looks like vacillation. In the darkest days of the Iraq war, he was convinced the administration was on the wrong course, but he ended up voting for all the expenditures.

Through everything, he has been an Ohioan before a Republican, as manifested most directly in his support for the auto bailout.

The Democratic control of the Senate hurts him less than some other Republicans. He can find common cause. Nevertheless, his decision will inevitably be seen in light of the fact that retirement rates tend to be higher in the minority party, the one that doesn't have chairmanships.

His retirement might mean that, as of 2010, Democrats will have replaced Republicans in all the top political leadership spots in Ohio; that depends on what happens in the Senate race and others.

His departure certainly means that a whole new generation of top political leadership will have taken over between 2006 and 2010 (unless former Sen. Mike DeWine replaces Sen. Voinovich).

Time marches. Sen. Voinovich originally won his Senate spot easily because John Glenn decided to go. Sen. Glenn was three years older than Sen. Voinovich, now 72, will be in 2010.

Retiring before one is spent is in the best interests of the institution. The Senate doesn't benefit from having many members who look like they are barely clinging to life.

This departure complicates things for Ohio Republicans when they don't need new complications. Statistically, parties that hold a particular Senate seat tend to lose it when they don't put up the incumbent.

However, parties that hold the presidency tend not to gain Senate seats in a midterm election.

So, with an open seat, the 2010 race could turn into a fair measure of how Democratic dominance of Washington is playing in Ohio.

If the parties put up people who have served as honestly, earnestly and independently as Sen. Voinovich — and leave as honorably — they will be doing well.