Addition By Subtraction

As the already weeks-long wave of Democratic retirements, non-candidacies and even the occasional party-switch continued to roll on, the Dems actually caught a break yesterday when Chris Dodd "decided" not to run for re-election.

In the case of Dodd's Connecticut, the Democrats dramatically improved their odds of holding the seat by convincing old "waitress sandwich Chris" to step aside. Thoroughly tarred by scandal and personal buffoonery, Dodd has been electoral toast for over a year now; with Dodd out of the way, his party now has a much better shot at winning in a deep-blue state, even in a big Republican year.

Now, if the DNC can just convince Blanche Lincoln, Arlen Specter, Michael Bennet and Harry Reid to step down, they might even be looking at a solid season...