Basically, if we take the context of how he's doing it; where he's making the announcement, fundraising, age; it looks like a retirement announcement to me. It's been widely expected, but now we've been given a timetable for an answer. A day's wait.
I have personally thought he had been avoiding announcing his future plans so he can paint himself in a way so his apprentice/heir, whatever you want to call him, Davis, looks like the next "John Warner" for Virginia.
Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) will announce tomorrow at the University of Virginia whether or not he intends to seek a sixth term, according to two top Virginia sources. Warner is planning a 2 p.m. news conference on the grounds of the Charlottesville, Va., school, where he took his law degree over 50 years ago. The Virginian will give his speech near the statue of Thomas Jefferson on the steps of the school's famous Rotunda, adding a fitting Warner flourish to the event.
Timeline for announcing plans, full article here: http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0 807/Warner_to_announce_tomorrow_whether_ he_will_seek_reelection.html
This senate seat is extremely important because following a highly probably Warner retirement announcement, we are expecting three candidacy announcements.
The first, former (and popular) Democratic Governor Mark Warner is expected to run for US Senate if John Warner retires. He has said he was interested in running for senate assuming John Warner retires.
The second, former (but not so popular) Republican Governor Jim Gilmore is expected to run for US Senate if John Warner retires. He has been expected to make a return to Virginia after a failed presidential run, which was also seen as a possible flash just to find his support for a statewide Virginia race.
The third, US Representative Tom Davis (R-VA). He is seen as too moderate to please the Republican base (which is why we are seeing the expected bloody primary between Tom and Jim). He is running because he is the "expected heir" for John Warner. I think it was a bit of a mentor-student connection. (Correct me if I'm wrong on that). This is a plus because Davis' District will be competitive with him leaving.
Something that caught my eye.
Davis, a six-term northern Virginia congressman, and Gilmore, a Richmonder who served as the commonwealth's governor from 1998-2002 and briefly ran for president this year, have already begun to lay the groundwork for a campaign should Warner retire. Each has spent the summer visiting Virginia communities... Davis is the further ahead of the two, having banked over $1 million and signing up veteran Virginia operatives to lead a possible bid.
Davis obviously being the closest one, would know beforehand if John Warner would retire. So if he is preparing for a run (a lackluster one at that.) Competitive races are looking at much more than 1 million CoH and/or money to spend.
Good news for Democrats.
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