Sen. Bryon Dorgan (D-ND) To Retire

Sen. Bryon Dorgan (D-ND) has announced that he will retire at the end of 2010, increasing Republican chances of diminishing the Democrats' filibuster-proof supermajority.

Asked about the retirement, a Democratic strategist told TPMDC, "It wasn't expected and comes as a bit of a surprise, but it's not shocking. Senator Dorgan has served for a long time and it's not surprising if he wanted to move on to a new venture or to no venture at all." But the loss of Dorgan leaves Democrats without a deep bench in North Dakota in a year when every loss counts if the party wants to maintain its 60-vote supermajority. Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D), the state's lone member of congress, is an obvious choice but with Hoeven as popular as he is, Pomeroy would likely enter the race as the underdog. For their part, Republicans are happy to see Dorgan go, and expect to add his North Dakota seat to the GOP column.