GOP Sen. Jon Kyl (AZ) To Retire

Powerful three-term GOP Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (AZ) is expecting to announce today that he will not seek reelection in 2012. That improves the prospect that Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napalitano will win his open seat next year.

Polls in the state showed Kyl comfortably ahead of all Democratic challengers, including Napolitano, at this stage of the race. The question now is whether Napolitano will be more likely to run for the now-open seat. National and Arizona Democrats certainly hope she will run. With the Democratic majority at a perilous (for them) 53-47, any US Senate seat that might switch from Republican to Democrat will attract the full resources of the Democratic establishment.

Last year Time Magazine named Kyl one of the "100 most influential people in the world."

RELATED: Yesterday Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) also announced that he will not seek reelection next year.