At least, that’s what Carleton Bryant is reporting in the Washington Times (italics in original):

The Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune are reporting that Sen. Roland Burris will not run for re-election to his Senate seat.

The Illinois senator plans to stay in office through the end of his term in January 2011. The Sun-Times reports that Burris can’t raise enough money for a re-election campaign, having raised only $20,000 so far.

Burris is expected to formally announce his plans Friday.

Um, I don’t mean to nitpick, but technically Burris can’t run for re-election to the Senate since he wasn’t elected to it in the first place.  However, he could run for reappointment. Not likely though. Kind of a long shot, don’t you know.

I think Burris may have underestimated the amount of money it takes to run a campaign. After all, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich only asked for $1,500 for the seat.

If he’s having trouble with fundraising, Burris should tap some of his Illinois contacts — or is that the problem?

Burris might have a problem with name recognition. Too many voters in Illinois recognize his.

Heh, indeed.™

Andrew Malcolm adds that Burris will be stepping down “Purely his own choice, of course. And all for the better of his state”…