Our nation, our state and our party will lose a great leader in 2010....
(Plain Dealer) - U.S. Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio plans to announce Monday that he will end a four-decade career of public service when his term expires in 2010.
Voinovich spent the weekend with his wife, Janet, children and grandchildren in Florida, discussing his professional and personal life and the balancing act required in Congress.
The senator has scheduled a news conference for the afternoon in Washington. A Republican source said Voinovich will finish the remaining two years in his term and then retire. Voinovich is 72 and his wife four years older. If he ran in 2010, he would be 80 when that term ended, adding to the time away from his extended family.
"George is just a big family man," said Bob Bennett, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, who said he did not know about Voinovich's plans or announcement. "When he's off, he's with family. He may be thinking about that."
The plainspoken Midwesterner also would have more time for his avocation - fishing for walleye, bass, yellow perch and steelhead trout in Lake Erie.
retirement will open the gates for other politicians hoping to move up. Several Democrats have discussed or are considering a possible run for the U.S. Senate in 2010, including Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles. Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher's name has been floated because he is known statewide.
Republicans, however, have been hesitant to challenge an incumbent. Rob Portman, a former Cincinnati-area congressman who served as President George W. Bush's budget director and trade representative, had said he might be interested in the Senate but would never take on Voinovich, a political mentor.
Other possible GOP candidates include John Kasich, a former Columbus-area congressman, and Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor.
Voinovich, a lawyer and one-time assistant state attorney general, has spent more than 42 years in politics. While he was mayor of Cleveland, the city returned to financial health after an earlier default under his predecessor. With support from the city's business establishment, he helped ignite the downtown building boom of the 1980s that would give Cleveland the moniker - temporarily - "Comeback City."
As governor in the 1990s, he made budget decisions that left critics of all political stripes displeased, saying he had no choice but to advocate working "harder and smarter" with less money...
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