Saxby Chambliss is quitting while he’s ahead. The senator from Georgia would rather avoid a fight with the Tea Party for the Republican nomination than run for a third term next year. The 69-year-old conservative caught a lot of flack this year for participating in the Senate’s bipartisan Gang of Six in hopes of coming to a debt compromise, despite his career-long loyalty to the GOP. A congressional aide made the announcement anonymously Friday, but Chambliss is expected to speak on his planned exit soon.
