Jim Jeffords, I-VT, retires

In a loss for the Senate and the Dems, Sen. Jim Jeffords, Independent of Vermont, is announcing his retirement. His wife is fighting cancer, and he acknowledged that there is some problems with his own health at age 70.
This is a loss of a moderate voice in the Senate, and of a man who withstood furious venom and hatred from right wingers when he courageously switched from a Republican to an Independent after Bush's first election, thereby denying the Republicans a majority in the Senate for their frequent party line votes.
Jeffords will be missed.