Saxby Chambliss to Retire

Two-term Republican senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia will reportedly retire at the end of 2014. Jim Galloway at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the details:

U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss will announce this morning that he’s dropping plans to run for a third term in 2014, a decision certain to set off an avalanche of Republican candidates who will seek to replace him.

Word out of Washington is that Chambliss broke the news to his senior staff this morning.

At least two GOP House members from Georgia, Paul Broun of Athens and Tom Price of Roswell, have been contemplating primary challenges to Chambliss, who has been criticized for participating in a bipartisan effort to broker a deal to address a $16 trillion federal deficit.

Chambliss ran for reelection in 2008 in a race that was much tighter than expected. He will be 71 at the end of 2014 and will have served 20 years in federal office, having served in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003 and in the Senate since 2003.