Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman will announce today that he is not running for re-election in 2012. I predicted his retirement back in November , and the reality of being in political no mans land had to impact his thinking.

Joe Lieberman has been a political oddity, raising the ire of both left and right. He has broken, in acrimonious fashion, from the core of the Democratic Party over his support for the Iraq war, his endorsement of John McCain over Barack Obama, and his reluctance to go the full mile on the health care bill. But whatever hope he might have had for securing real Republican support evaporated with his support of the repeal of DADT, his ultimate vote for the health care package, and a host of other moderate to liberal positions on the domestic front. He really had no place to go politically, and he beat the crowd coming for him to the door. The move should secure the seat for the Democrats in blue Connecticut.