Delahunt Retiring

Another one bites the dust. Dr. Amy Bishop was unavailable for comment.

Representative William Delahunt will not seek re-election to Congress, the seven-term Democrat will announce tomorrow, ending a nearly 40-year career in elected office and giving Republicans hope of capturing the seat, which stretches from Cape Cod to the South Shore.

"It's got nothing to do with politics," the Quincy Democrat said today. "Life is about change. I think it's healthy. It's time."

Change! Who knew change involved Democrats running for the hills so soon?

The 68-year-old lawmaker said he has been considering leaving the House for several years, but was talked out of it two years ago by the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who convinced his friend he should stay and help President Obama with his first-term agenda.

"He said, 'Come on -- this is a new time. It's a new era. We [will] have a new president. We're all needed," Delahunt recalled Kennedy telling him. Once Kennedy died last year, Delahunt said he grappled with whether to stay and work on the issues Kennedy held dear.

"Clearly, since his death, there's something missing. There's a void. With the void, you feel the need to be here because there's much to do," Delahunt said wistfully in an exclusive interview.

There's also that messy residue from the Amy Bishop killings.

A host of Republicans were already in line to challenge Delahunt, and since Joe Kennedy III dropped out last week, the Democrat pickings are slim.

Democrats believed to be lining up to run for the coveted congressional seat include Quincy state Rep. Ron Mariano, former state Democratic Party chairman and Dukakis aide Phillip Johnston and Norfolk District Attorney William Keating.

State Sen. President Therese Murray, a Plymouth Democrat, has said she won’t toss her hat into the ring.

Could there be a GOP pickup here?

And what's the deal with this?

U.S. Rep. William Delahunt will be bowing out of politics and won’t seek re-election, U.S. Sen. John Kerry confirmed in a news release.

What, is Liveshot his press aide now?

Speaking of Lerch, what's the deal with this?