Might Pat Roberts Retire?

Kansas: The Kansas City Star takes a look this morning at Senator Pat Roberts leaving the Intelligence Committee after four years as Chairman. The piece got me wondering: Roberts is giving up his Chairmanship and facing status in the Senate minority for the first substantial time in his Senate career - might he retire? In the last cash-on-hand check, he did have almost $700,000, certainly a tidy starting point for this stage in a Kansas statewide election. The Star piece does note:

Roberts, 70, has been on the committee since his arrival in the Senate in 1997. He plans to run for re-election in 2008. In 2002 he had no major party opposition, but since then the Democratic Party has had a resurgence in Kansas.

With its state party resurgence, Democrats should be able to field somebody that would force Roberts to have to do more dogged fundraising, campaigning, and debating, activities he had the luxury of avoiding in 2002. Would he want to go through the rigors of an all-out campaign at age 70? Until Roberts makes a firmer announcement beyond just "plans," we can definitely put him on the retirement-watch list.