North Dakota Dem senator and "Friend of Angelo" Conrad won't seek reelection in 2012

A steep hill for Sen. Kent Conrad in North Dakota

Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) announced that he will not be a candidate for reelection next year, echoing a similar declaration made last January by Byron Dorgan, who was then North Dakota's other Democratic senator.

Like Dorgan, I believe that Conrad read the tea party leaves and realized that he is facing an uphill battle in the conservative state in 2012. It looks like he'd rather leave the US Senate as a retiree instead as a defeated candidate.

Conrad had a steep hill to climb. Dorgan's vacated seat went to a Republican and the Peace Garden State's at-large seat in the House was snatched by a GOPer--sending Rep. Earl Pomeroy into the kind of exit Conrad seems to be avoiding.

Conrad, who was first elected to the Senate in 1986, would have been running with some baggage next year. Although he was cleared by the Senate Ethics Committee, Conrad was the beneficiary of "Friends of Angelo" discounts on two mortgages from Countrywide Financial--one of the villains in the housing crash that pushed the economy into recession. Angelo Mozilla is the former CEO of Countrywide, which was later purchased by Bank of America.

Former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), another "Friend of Angelo," chose to not to run for reelection last year.

North Dakota blogger Say Anything has a lot more about Conrad's upcoming retirement, calling it "an ugly day for Democrats in North Dakota."

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