Douglas, midway through his fourth term, will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. in the Governor's Ceremonial Office in the Statehouse.
Multiple Republican sources have said the governor has decided against running for a fifth two-year term.
Douglas met with his staff and with cabinet members at 10 a.m. Member of the administration now are making their way to the Statehouse for the 11 a.m. announcement.
Douglas perfected the knack of survival in this deep blue liberal state, but he was already drawing some decent challengers -- state Sen. Doug Racine (a former Lt. Governor who lost a gubernatorial race to Douglas by two points in 2002), state Sen. Susan Bartlett, and Secretary of State Deb Markowitz. In his announcement (which is streaming live right now), Douglas says that he won't run for the Senate or the House in 2010, and he'll serve out the remainder of his term.
Republicans will likely turn to the next biggest name on their bench to take over in 2010 -- sitting Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie, who, somewhat amazingly, has also managed to win his office on his own right since 2002.
UPDATE (Crisitunity): With this decision, Swing State Project is changing our rating of this race to "Tossup." Given the state's decidedly blue hue, "Lean Democratic" wouldn't be out of the question, but Dubie is no slouch and we are intensely aware of the capacity of the Progressives in Vermont to screw things up for Democrats. If it's clear that Anthony Pollina won't get in the race this time, we will feel more confident about Dems' chances.
