Scandal plagued Republican Rep. John Doolittle has been fighting off retirement rumors for the past 24 hours, first with this piece in the Hill and now a newsflash from Roll Call:

Embattled Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) is set to announce Thursday that he will not seek a 10th term in November, a Golden State Republican insider said this morning.

Yesterday the WWS emailed Eric Egland, who has mounted a serious primary challenge to Doolittle with the support of a surprisingly effective grass-roots campaign. Egland said "tomorrow will be a great day for Republicans, if retirement rumors are true....In this regard, we've accomplished our first mission. John Doolittle's scandals will not drag down the Republican Party any longer."

If Doolittle does make this official, keep your eye on Egland. He had already raised twice as much money as the incumbent, he's hooked up with Vets for Freedom (Egland served in Iraq and Afghanistan), and he's earned a lot of good will by engaging with conservative bloggers and milbloggers. If he makes it out of the primary, he should be a shoe-in for the general election. And freshman or not, Egland will be an effective advocate for the troops from the first day he shows up in Washington.

Update: It's official.