Rep. Kennedy Retiring

It's been a big week for lawmaker retirements, with two Republicans and one Democrat calling it quits in the previous two days, and now Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) has announced he won't seek reelection in 2010. Hotline OnCall's Tim Sahd notes that Kennedy has never been in any real danger of losing his seat, but the National Republican Congressional Committee had targeted him for 2010. Kennedy had more than four times the amount of campaign cash as his Republican challenger, John Loughlin.

Patrick Kennedy is the youngest son of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, who died last year.

Kennedy's retirement leaves 13 open Democratic-held seats and 18 open Republican-held seats going into the midterm elections.

Kennedy taped this video message to constituents explaining his retirement decision: