Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert is expected to announce his retirement from Congress Friday, but another member of what used to be the Republican leadership will beat him to the exit. The Hill reports that Ohio Rep. Deborah Pryce, formerly the fourth-ranking member of the GOP leadership, will announce her retirement Thursday.
Pryce barely survived a reelection challenge from Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy last fall. She won, to some degree, by campaigning on who she wasn't. When Democrats tried to link Pryce to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, her campaign manager declared that they'd have better luck if Pryce were "an old, fat, balding white guy." And when a CNN reporter asked Pryce just before the election whether she bore some responsibility for the war in Iraq, Pryce called off the interview and then issued a statement in which she said, "What's happening in Iraq is not a direct reflection on me."
Sources tell the Hill that Pryce is leaving to -- wait for it! -- spend more time with her daughter.
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