Walsh to Quit Montana Senate Race

The Republicans’ chances of capturing the US Senate just improved.

Sen. John Walsh (D-MT) will soon drop out of the race to keep the seat that Sen. Max Baucus vacated to become ambassador to China. Republicans have not held that seat in 100 years.

Politico attributes Walsh’s decision to an unnamed source close to Walsh’s campaign.

Walsh already faced the Obama headwind that is dragging down Democrats all over the country, and was already behind in the polls when explosive allegations of plagiarism surfaced.

Walsh’s was just any garden-variety plagiarism. He is accused of plagiarism in his master’s thesis at the US Army War College. Walsh denied the allegations, and then tried to blame them on post-traumatic stress disorder.

Monday is the deadline to replace Walsh on the ballot. Democratic officials had been pressuring him behind the scenes to eject from the race, so that the party could field a replacement.

Republican Rep. Steve Daines enjoys a double-digit lead over Walsh in the RealClearPolitics poll averages. Only left-leaning PPP polls rate the race as competitive.