Republican incumbent Deborah Pryce's narrow 2% victory over Mary Jo Kilroy in OH-15 last year was one of election night's heartbreakers. Buckeye State Blog broke the news today (subsequently confirmed) that Pryce intends to announce her retirement tomorrow and with that, this R+1 district (50%-50% Bush/Kerry), which Cook currently lists as Lean Republican (.pdf) and Rothenberg has moved to Tossup, has got to favor Kilroy, who is running again. Especially with this news from Jerid:

The story gets better too. Doug Priese, Chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party, got word of the retirement yesterday from the Congresswoman's office. In a span of 24 hours the GOP has already had it's top two potential challengers declare they wouldn't touch OH-15 with a stick.

Pryce is one of the GOP's so-called moderates, supporting abortion rights but walking in lockstep with Bush on the war. We've just about purged the GOP from New England's congressional delegations. Next stops: PA, OH & NY.

Update [2007-8-15 19:5:13 by Todd Beeton]: Swing State Project has a handy chart of announced and potential retirements HERE. If you take Hastert from potential to definite, the list of possible retirements now includes 26 Republicans (3 of whom represent Dem-leaning districts) and just 6 Democrats. Expect more and more retirees to roll out over the coming weeks to allow time for potential successors to begin organizing.