David Wu has resigned. This time, officially.

Kari Chisholm FacebookTwitterWebsite

David Wu has notified Governor John Kitzhaber and Speaker John Boehner that his resignation is effective at 11:59 p.m. tonight.

The news was broken moments ago on Twitter by the Oregonian's Janie Har and the KOIN news desk.

Here's the statement, thanks to KGW:

Serving as a U.S. Congressman has been the greatest honor of my life. There is no other job where you get up each day and ask, ‘How can I try to make the world a better place today?’

Particularly meaningful to me has been working for more and better investments in science and education. Also, I believe that my support for people who struggle for human rights and civil liberties will ultimately bear fruit in a world that is more just and peaceful.

However great the honor and engaging the work, there comes a time to hand on the privilege of elected office—and that time has come.

In other news, Rob Cornilles - the 2010 GOP nominee - announced today that he intends to announce tomorrow that he's running for Congress. (Call me a stickler for logic, but isn't that an announcement?)

Via Twitter, the Oregonian reports that Cornilles has announced endorsements from Sen. Bruce Starr, Rep. Shawn Lindsay, and businessman Rob Miller. The best GOP prospect, Sen. Starr had previously withdrawn. Lindsay and Miller were still considered likely candidates, so take them off the board.

For all of our new OR-1 watchers from around the country, here's a sampling of last cycle's Rob Cornilles headlines from BlueOregon:

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    Full disclosure: My firm built Brad Avakian's campaign website. I speak only for myself.

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    Let the mudslingin' begin...

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    Cornilles had it easy with Wu last time and he lost big. This time he will face a competent, battle-tested Democrat whomever it turns out. I expect that his shady business background will become a bigger issue this time since the hard work has been done.

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    There. Done shaking your fists in the air in faux rage that he didn't resign EXACTLY when Obama signed the debt bill into law? A whole day. Wow. That was super hard and had such a massive effect on next year's campaign. Also, if the party insiders end up sticking a fake Democrat in the First... (I mean, come on here...the party insiders basically are pushing all their faves as the slate that the citizens of the First will have to choose from...there's precious little democracy left here. And frankly, when Republican state reps that are reasonably entrenched in that district are stepping up to run, a person can't help but feel just a little worried there.)

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    Call me a stickler for logic, but isn't that an announcement?

    That's something that annoys the crap out of me. I have noticed over the past months that a number of people in politics do not fully understand the meaning of the word "announcement". Bachmann did the exact same thing, announcing at a debate that she would be announcing her candidacy for the Presidency a few days later at an event in Iowa. To announce something is to make it known publicly. When you confirm that you are running for office, be it at a nationally televised debate, or in the Oregonian, that's your announcement! Saying it again at a campaign event is just repeating what you have already announced.

    I will say though that it's essentially the media's fault for covering both announcements as if they are equally news. First, they write a story about how a candidate has announced their impending announcement. Then, they still cover the "formal" announcement as if it's a big deal, instead of just another campaign event. So that provides the incentive to politicians to "announce" twice. Ugh.

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