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”…
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