Why do these guys run if they don’t want to serve out their terms? What’s up with that?

After months of playing coy about when he would depart, Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) bid his official farewell to the House today.

The speaker for eight years, Hastert wrote letters to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-Ill.) officially resigning his congressional seat in a move that has long been anticipated but with the timing in question because of internal Illinois politics about when to hold a special election to pick a successor.

In a bit of historical coincidence, Hastert’s resignation, taking effect at 11:59 pm EST tonight, comes on the same day that Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) announced his plan to resign later next month from the Senate. For four years in the late 1990s and earlier this decade, Hastert and Lott served together as the top Republicans in Congress, legislative point men for the early days of President Bush’s tenure.

More at the Washington Post