A dozen Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have already announced they won’t seek reelection next year — and there may soon be more in the face of Democrats who are seen likely to retain control of the chamber in the 2008 elections.
 
Yet the head of the House Republican campaign committee says he will not try to talk anyone into staying.
 
“If you don’t want to be here, get out of the way. There will be a long line (of potential replacements),” Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma told reporters in a conference call this week. “If someone is leaving because they don’t want to serve for personal reasons or whatever, it’s mistake to try to make them stay.”
 
Cole said the number of Republicans who have announced their resignations is about average for this time of year. He said the bigger problem his party faces is that so far no Democrats have said they won’t to seek another term.
 
Why are they staying?
 
“Moving from from the minority to the majority adds new life to members, particularly, frankly, if they’re in their late 60’s or 70’s,” Cole said. “They figure … I’m finally got the majority again. I’m going to stay here and enjoy this chairmanship.”
 
Regardless, Cole said he doesn’t expect to lose seats next year, and believes Democrats are making themselves vulnerable.
 
“The strategy they are pursuing — which is to still attack a president who’s not going to be here after 2008, and to show an inability to sit down and work with the minority to get things done — is a huge mistake,” said Cole, noting his own party made a similar mistake of its own a decade ago when it controlled Congress and Democrat Bill Clinton was president.

– Reporting by Thomas Ferraro