Coburn to Leave Senate at Year's End

WASHINGTON - Senator Tom Coburn, the Oklahoma Republican known for his blunt personality and distaste for government spending, will leave office at the end of the year as he battles cancer.

Mr. Coburn made his announcement late Thursday night. Though he has been treated for repeated bouts with prostate cancer, he said that his decision to step down - two years before his term expires in 2016 - was not about his health or his prognosis.

'Our founders saw public service and politics as a calling rather than a career,' he said in a written statement. Mr. Coburn, an obstetrician turned politician, had always intended to step down after two terms, a pledge he made when he first ran for the Senate.

Mr. Coburn is one of the most conservative Republicans in the Senate, but he has prided himself on working with Democrats.

His retirement is not likely to alter the Senate's balance of power. Oklahoma has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since David L. Boren stepped down in 1994.