Mel Martinez

A lot of old time Republican senators have decided to hang up their cleats, or may decide to do so in the coming months.

Already deciding to retire are Mel Martinez (Florida); Sam Brownback (Kansas) and this week Kit Bond (Missouri).

There is also a rumor on RedState that Ohio's George Voinovich may step down at term's end.    

All things being equal, we are usually better off running an incumbent, but unless we adopt a Weekend at Bernie's  strategy the day will come to replace incumbents.

The future of the Republican party will depend on who gets to step up in these races.