Sen. Mel Martinez Resigning Today

Florida Republican Senator Mel Martinez has already announced he was not running for reelection in 2010, but CNN is reporting today that he is announcing his resignation.

Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Florida, will announce that he is resigning his seat, three GOP sources tell CNN.

The sources said that Martinez will officially announce his intention to step down on Friday. The Florida Republican, first elected in 2004, announced in December of lat year that he would retire in 2010.

Florida law states that Gov. Charlie Crist may temporarily appoint someone to the vacant seat until the next general election. As of Friday morning, it was unclear what Crist would do. Crist announced in May he would not seek another term as governor, and instead would run for Martinez's seat.

Today just got a hell of a lot more interesting. I hope he's alright, Martinez may be a Republican but for the most part he's not a bad guy. It's not like stepping down will avoid a nasty GOP primary fight in Florida for his seat between Gov. Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio.

So why is he pulling a Palin here? What's the deal?

[UPDATE 11:40 AM] The Miami Herald is all over the story.

Though he has persistently denied the ``rumor'' that he'll step down, Florida Sen. Mel Martinez might announce as early as Friday that he'll leave office early, according to a number of sources in the state and nation's capitals.

``It's a deeply personal decision that he will expand on later today. He decided it's time to move to another stage of his life,'' said a source familiar with the situation.

Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running to replace Martinez, will appoint a fill-in. Crist could even appoint himself.

When asked about the rumor July 28, Crist downplayed it.

``Anything's possible. I don't think that's something he [Martinez] really is considering,'' said Crist, a friend and early supporter of Martinez.

The Martinez resignation rumor has been persistent, apparently. We'll see what his press conference reveals about that "deeply personal decision".

[UPDATE 11:48 AM] Sully has a point here:

But to have a leading Latino figure - arguably the most prominent Hispanic-American in the GOP - to resign the day after Sotomayor ascends to the Supreme Court: well, the combo can't be a good news cycle for Republicans among Hispanics, can it?

Got to admit that one.

[UPDATE 12:05 PM] CNN now has Martinez's official statement:

My priorities have always been my faith, my family and my country and at this stage in my life, and after nearly twelve years of public service in Florida and Washington, it's time I return to Florida and my family.

So today I am announcing my decision to step down from public office, effective on a successor taking office to fill out the remainder of my term.

Basically, it's the "spending time with my family" reason, no illness, no scandal, no mistresses, nothing out of the ordinary. He's just "moving on."

So yeah, he's pulling a Palin after all. Me, I think Sully's on to something there. I honestly think that Martinez just got fed up being the "Shamnesty" punching bag as the only Hispanic GOP Senator. The Sotomayor vote may have been the last straw, but it was pretty clear that Martinez waited until the recess to avoid too much of a disruption to Florida's citizens. This was in the pipe for a while.

[UPDATE 1:45 PM] Melissa McEwan is right: since Gov. Crist is running for Martinez's seat, doesn't he have to recuse himself from picking his successor?