While many prominent groups on the left are urging former governor Brian Schweitzer (D) to run for the Montana Senate seat Max Baucus (D) is retiring from Schweitzer still hasn’t officially announced his plans. If he does decide to run he will start off as the clear favorite. A new Harper poll shows him leading ahead of all of the most likely Republican nominees.

Instead of facing a tough re-election next year it looks like Montana Senator Max Baucus (D) will instead retire. Two senior Democratic strategists told the Washington Post of Baucus plans and the story has been confirmed by the AP.

Do you hear that? It is the sound of progressives across America giving each other high fives as Senator Max Baucus has, according to the Washington Post, decided not to run for re-election in 2014 and will retire.

During a Senate Finance Committee hearing with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Sen. Max Baucus repeatedly expressed concerns that the administration has completely failed to do proper outreach and that most of his constituents are still very confused about the law. Baucus said small businesses have “no idea what to do” and he sees a “huge train wreck coming down.”

Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer could potentially unseat Senator Max Baucus in a Democratic primary according to the Public Policy Polling survey. The poll found that if Schweitzer decided to run for Senate next year he would start with 54 percent of the primary vote compared to only 35 percent for Baucus.

Former Democratic Senator Russ Feingold is apparently not pulling any punches as the founder of Progressives United. In an email to supporters about the Amgen subsidyin the fiscal cliff deal, Feingold called out Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) by name for being part of the corruption that permeates government

Major tax cuts were extended for giant corporations — while the average Montana was stuck with a $900/year in increased taxes — and the person responsible is claiming he doesn’t even know how his staff put it in there for his former staff? This is why last night Bill Moyers referred to Max Baucus as, “a connoisseur of revolving door corruption.”

Some skullduggery on the Senate floor today.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner spoke in front of the Council on Foreign Relations Wednesday, and he gave what amounts to an endorsement of the Bowles-Simpson deficit reduction plan.

The fiscal slope has several component parts, but one of the more overlooked ones is the series of what is colloquially known as “tax extenders,” those one-year tax breaks, usually for businesses, that are habitually extended. There’s a very good reason that these are only extended one year at a time – if you want to squeeze more campaign contributions out of business types, you have to show return on investment, and extending a tax break that saves their company millions every year – complete with the warnings that “without me as your champion in Congress, we may not be able to get this done” – does the trick.