Will Tom Coburn Retire?

Ben Domenech, a former Senate staffer, is hearing the speculation about the first-term senator from Oklahoma.

Coburn has less than $60,000 on hand in his campaign coffers, putting him worse than some GOP members, such as Sen. Jim Bunning, who have already announced they aren’t running for reelection.

While Coburn has demured from presenting a decision in his public comments, according to one longtime Coburn supporter, the Senator is strongly considering stepping down next year.

It’s good that Domenech mentions Bunning, who is threatening to quit the Senate in a game of chicken against the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Even in the new, spending-austerity-fond Republican conference, Coburn regularly has to scrap with his own party in fights against earmarks. If Coburn isn’t just talking, this would be one of the easier seats for Republicans to hold in 2010.