Jim Webb's Retirement from the Senate

I was pleasantly shocked this morning to read of Jim Webb's (D-VA) announcement that he won't run for re-election to the Senate in 2012. I thought I heard it on some news program last night, through a drowsy haze.

Turns out it is true.

I haven't yet seen a reason for Webb's departure, but one wonders why he would have run, won, and then chosen to serve only a single term. Can he really be that concerned about being re-elected amidst a Virginia voter tide running toward the GOP? Or, as a moderate in an increasingly extremely liberal Congressional Democratic tribe, did Webb see a dark, uncomfortable future for himself in the Senate amidst such extremists?

Whatever the reason, pundits are already giving the seat back to George Allen. Citing a probable two-seat pickup for the GOP in the Senate due to Webb's and Kent Conrad's retirements, an LA Times article suggests that the four needed for a GOP majority is easily within reach. That would be insufficient to get to 60 votes, but enough to make Wonderboy's next term, if that occurs, either a pointless liberal nightmare, or force him unwillingly to the center, in order to avoid having nothing positive to show for two terms.