A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

I was as surprised as anyone to read this:

Chuck Hagel will announce Monday that he is retiring from the U.S. Senate and will not run for president next year, people close to the Nebraska Republican said Friday.

Hagel plans to announce that "he will not run for re-election and that he does not intend to be a candidate for any office in 2008," said one person, who asked not to be named.

Hagel has scheduled a press conference for 10 a.m. Monday at the Omaha Press Club.

According to one person interviewed, Hagel told Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky on Friday morning that he had decided to retire. Hagel's staff learned of his decision that afternoon.

The North Platte native earned national recognition as perhaps the most vocal, at times angry, GOP critic of the Bush administration's Iraq policies.

His outspokenness on Iraq and other key issues, including Social Security and foreign policy, fueled national interest in Hagel as he flirted with a possible presidential bid.

His national profile reached its zenith in March, when he headed to Omaha to hold a press conference on his political future.

But amid wide speculation that he was leaning toward a White House run, Hagel announced that he would disclose his plans later in the year.

His pending retirement leaves another GOP Senate seat without an incumbent at a time when the Republican Party is struggling to stem potential losses and must defend more seats than Democrats.

I knew, of course, that Hagel faced a primary challenge, but I figured that he would be determined to fight it off. I had discounted, at this late stage in the game, that Hagel would run for the Presidency but I am taken aback by the fact that he no longer even wants to fight for the Senate.

It's a pity, really. He had a very good voting record on most conservative issues and won a lot of respect with his interest in foreign and national security policy. At the same time, while one can respect the fact that he dissented from the Bush Administration's policies in Iraq, the manner in which he expressed his disagreements--including, at one point, hinting at the impeachment of the President--made it harder to take some of his critiques seriously. I imagine that his farewell speech will hold at least a trace of bitterness and that Hagel will make sure that those who attend the speech to hear a denunciation of the Adeministration's policies will not find themselves disappointed.