Barney Frank to Leave the House

In a press conference at 1pm EST, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass) is going to announce why he will not seek re-seek his seat in the House of Representatives during the 2012 election.

After 32 years in Congress, the colorful, often bombastic and caustic Representative from Massachusetts will call it quits.

The openly-gay Congressman is a promoter of gay rights and a co-sponsor of the contentious Dodd-Frank financial reform act that is often cited as a major hinderence to the economic recovery in the United States.

Massachusetts was already set to lose one seat due to Congressional re-districting and this could cost the firmly blue state a seat that was all but guaranteed.

No comment was immediately available from the Congressman’s office and his spokesman would only say that the reason for Rep. Frank’s decision to leave Congress would be obvious at 1pm.