[x]

His wife has had some pretty heavy lobbying and corporate connections over the years, so you might wonder if there's some scandal or at least a lot of nest-feathering in the background.

There are already whispers about questionable fund-raising for the Harkin Institute they are setting up at Iowa State.

As for Tom, I imagine he started a folksy anecdote and got stuck in an endless loop and couldn't get out of it, and figured it was time to leave the Senate.

But will he leave Washington, or stick around and go into lobbying?

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

Jeff Patch has done some extremely in-depth reporting on Harkin’s shenanigans. I have no idea if that is a factor is Harkin’s retirement but it couldn’t have done Harkin any good. theiowarepublican.com