Sen. Jim Webb: I won't seek re-election

Sen. Jim Webb, a moderate Virginia Democrat elected in the blue wave of 2006, announced Wednesday that he won’t seek re-election in 2012.

His retirement leaves wide open the Virginia Senate race  - a contest that many political watchers see as critical to deciding which party controls the Senate in the next Congress.

"After much consideration I have decided to return to the private sector, where I have spent most of my professional life, and will not seek re-election in 2012," the 65-year-old said in a statement.

Webb, a decorated Vietnam veteran who served as GOP President Reagan's secretary of the Navy (and later switched parties to run for Senate), had been a vocal critic of China and a supporter of engaging Myanmar’s military rulers.

He won in an upset victory in 2006 against incumbent Republican Sen. George Allen - who, at the time, was seen as a frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, before being pilloried for one of the most infamous blunders of the 2006 campaign.

Allen called a Webb volunteer of South Asian descent a "macaca," a derogatory term referring to monkeys. 

Allen has already announced his intention to run and win back his old seat.  In terms of the Democrats, DNC Chairman and former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine's name has been floated.

Webb said he had "every intention of remaining involved in the issues that affect the well-being and the future of our country."

ashahid@nydailynews.com