Bill "Cat Killer" Frist is leaving politics

According to the New York Times' political blog, Bill Frist won't run for president in 2008. Instead, he's going back to Tennessee.

T.A. Frank at the Washington Monthly is crestfallen:

NO MORE FRIST? Looks like we'll be deprived of a Bill Frist presidential run in '08. That's a shame, because a politician as entertainingly craven as Frist deserves to have a proper outlet for his talents. I was curious to see how he'd approach a national campaign in light of the midterms. Would he, for example, start attacking the White House for the war in Iraq? Or might he announce he'd changed his mind about end-of-life decisions and go and personally pull some plugs? It promised to be good, whatever it was. But I guess he felt it was going to be too hard to zig after the political winds had abruptly zagged. He's probably right, but I wish he'd have given it a try all the same. For my sake.

Gingrich recently pushed for a campaign finance bill originally introduced in Congress as . Mark Schmitt wonders, "Now that the first of those is under indictment, the third has copped a plea, and the middle one is under serious investigation, one has to wonder: What should you call a piece of legislation when all of its cosponsors are in jail?"

See? 2008 will still be entertaining.

[Political Animal, TAPPED]