Republican Senator begging for primary loss

Senator Voinovich (R-OH) is asking to be booted from the Senate next time he comes up for re-election. Sadly for the residents of Ohio and other Republicans nation-wide, that is not until 2010.

From NRO's Beltway Buzz:

I spoke with George Voinovich’s office and they have confirmed that the senator intends to vote “no” on Bolton’s Senate floor vote.

When I asked if Voinovich will be lobbying anyone in the GOP caucus to vote “no” on Bolton, they directed me to this portion of Voinovich’s statement from yesterday’s hearing as an example of the message he will be conveying:

“If that goes to the floor, I would plead to my colleagues in the Senate to consider the decision and its consequences carefully, to read all the pertinent material — so often we get nominees and we don't spend the time to look into the background of the individual — and to ask themselves several questions.”

It's called party loyalty, Senator.

UPDATE: John Podhoretz posting at The Corner points out how some in the GOP are ahead of me on this:

...a senior staffer from the first Bush administration has informed me that of all Republican officials in the country, Voinovich was by the far the worst, most unpleasant, most difficult and most whiny. He was then the governor of Ohio, and he would send Bush 41 endless letters moaning about how he wasn't getting enough attention, Ohio wasn't getting enough, blah blah blah. His underlings, the staffer said, were equally impossible. "Who's going to primary this guy next time?" the staffer asked me. "'Cause there's a check I'd write in a minute." Judging from my e-mail over the past day, there's a lot of GOP folks who would be thrilled to support a Republican candidate for senate in Ohio who would take Voinovich on.