Well friends, it seems that Bud Cramer is retiring. Yes this may be a little late news for some of you, but never the less it is something to keep track of.

On March 13th, Representative Bud Cramer announced that he will not seek re-election to Congress from Alabama's Fifth Congressional District. "This was a difficult decision, but after 28 years of public service it is time for me to step aside, spend more time with my family and begin another chapter in my life."

More below the fold.

OK. I an officially through with Bud Cramer. Adios. Ciao. Goodbye.

The Democratic congressman from north Alabama announced this week that he is retiring. Cramer represents a heavily Republican district and was mostly a conservative vote but at least he voted for Democratic leadership.

But now he is threatening to endorse a Republican to succeed him.

Just as Democrats thought that things could not be going better in the 2008 House races, we were delivered this bombshell that longtime Democratic Rep. Bud Cramer is retiring.  http://www.cqpolitics.com/...  He is a conservative Democrat and many scold him for being a "Bush dog", but lets face it, this is a district that gave Bush 60% of the vote in 2004.  This district is going to be very, very tough to hold onto.  

I first posted this at Captain Plaid yet wanted to share with the Kossacks.  CBS/Politico gives the best coverage I've yet found of the news that Alabama's Bud Cramer is retiring.  Given his support of Bu$hCo on matters like tax cuts for the fatcats, I'm rather glad he's riding off into the sunset. Alabama's 5th might very well be a tough one to hold but I'd almost rather have a Republican up there than a "Bu$h Dog" like Bud.  I've just a few questions below the fold ...

This is bad news.

Rep. Bud Cramer, who represents North Alabama and Huntsville, is one of only two Democrats from Alabama in the House.

AP reports that a plane carrying 3 US Senators and a Congressman was fired upon as it took off from Baghdad:

A military cargo plane carrying three senators and a House member was forced to take evasive maneuvers and dispatch flares to avoid ground fire after taking off from Baghdad on Thursday night.

The lawmakers said their plane, a C-130, was under fire from three rocket-propelled grenades over the course of several minutes as they left for Amman, Jordan.

They came close to being hit:

"It was a scary moment," said Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., who said he had just taken off his body armor when he saw a bright flash outside the window. "Our pilots were terrific. ... They banked in one direction and then banked the other direction, and they set off the flares."

And what do they think of the situation now? Look below.

Please excuse the brevity of this diary as details are still emerging this evening.

This story originally hit the wires at 5:04 pm [edt] so I’m wondering why it hasn’t been on the 24/7 cable news channels yet in one of those "Breaking News" graphics or at least on the "crawl" at the bottom of the screen. They’re all too hung up on Senator Craig’s restroom adventures, I suppose.

Anyway, here’s some real news to ponder – especially for the Democrats in Congress who are already thinking about capitulating to the decider guy again next month.

[Update]: h/t - SomeStones - Sen. Mel Martinez (R-fl) and Sen. James Inhoffe (R-Okla) were also reportedly on board.

[Update 2]: I finally caught this story for the first time on network news, on CBS "Up to the Minute" early early morning news show at 3:00 am (edt) As far as I know, it was the first time the story was reported on either network or cable news - almost 10-hours after it broke.