The AP's Christopher Graff delivers a very disappointing piece of news out of Vermont today:

Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords, an independent who triggered one of the most dramatic upheavals in Senate history when he quit the GOP four years ago, intends to retire at the end of his term next year, officials in his home state and Washington said Wednesday.

Jeffords will make the announcement Wednesday afternoon in Burlington, three sources close to the senator told The Associated Press on Wednesday. They spoke on condition of anonymity.

No calls to Jeffords' press secretary or staff were returned Wednesday morning.

Jeffords, 70, has been adamant in saying he will seek re-election, but there have been increasing concerns voiced about his health in recent weeks.

Jeffords, who was one of the very last remaining liberal Republicans in the Senate, will be sorely missed. The Democrats will be able to hold the seat, but it is highly unlikely that they will find someone as intelligent, talented and decent as Jim Jeffords.

There is some brighter news from Pennsylvania, where new polling shows a surprisingly uncompetitive race at this early juncture. Peter Jackson has the story for the AP:

Democrat Robert P. Casey Jr. holds a 14-percentage-point lead over Republican Sen. Rick Santorum in the 2006 campaign for Santorum's seat, according to an independent poll released Wednesday.

Casey, Pennsylvania's state treasurer and son of the late governor, was favored by 49 percent of the respondents in the Quinnipiac University poll, compared to 35 percent for the second-term incumbent. Thirteen percent were undecided.

The widening of Casey's lead, from 46-41 percent in a Quinnipiac survey in February, comes on the heels of Santorum's high-profile advocacy of two controversial causes - President Bush's Social Security overhaul plan and congressional intervention in the Terry Schiavo case.

If there is any silver lining today, it comes with the fact that Rick Santorum is sitting at 35% right now. While this doesn't mean he has lost the race, it certainly means his next year and a half will be hellish, at best.

[Update 11:01 AM Pacific]: Says Josh Marshall...

For Rick Santorum, phase-out may take on a whole new meaning.