Big news blew in from Montana:

Democrats suffered the latest in a series of blows to their hopes to hold Montana’s Senate seat on Thursday, when Sen. John Walsh (D-Mont.) announced after days of speculation that he’ll drop his campaign against Rep. Steve Daines (R-Mont.).

Walsh’s decision after weeks of fallout from a plagiarism scandal likely ends any hopes the party has to hold the seat, barring a miracle recruitment coup heading into the state party’s hastily organized Aug. 16 convention.

There’s more:

It’s not their only open-seat recruiting failure this cycle — they failed to get in a decent candidate in South Dakota to replace retiring Sen. Tim Johnson (D), and Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) has given national Democrats fits with his gaffes. The Democratic senators running for reelection in Republican states are fighting hard but may not all win, so if Democrats end up losing the Senate, recruiting failures early in the cycle could be their downfall.

Hope-a hope-a.