Wow. And on a Monday, too: Bruno won't seek re-election.

"He will not run for re-election. It's still open as to whether he will serve out the term until Dec. 31 or leave early." UPDATE: Another GOP Senate source tells DN Capitol Bureau Ken Lovett that Bruno will definitely remain in the Senate through the end of the year because if he leaves, the chamber will be tied. The fate of his leadership, however, remains unclear. This source told Lovett Bruno decided to tell his members today because it's the last day of session and he wanted to inform them of his decision when they were all together. Bruno, who has served in the Senate since 1976 and has been leader since early 1995, when he took power from Ralph Marino in a coup with then-newly-minted Gov. George Pataki's support, has been coy of late about whether he would run this fall.

Here's what's fun: this morning, Albany Project noted that it sure looked as if Bruno was clearing the gangways. Several people will have their situations drastically altered by Bruno's retirement. One, the older republican Senators, the Trunzos of the world, will now head for the exits. Bruno's kept them in office to preserve his majority. That's over, and this will not be the last retirement to come. Two, Sheldon Silver in the Assembly, first elected the same years as Joe Bruno, 1976, now faces the near certainty of a Democratic Senate that will operate under different rules than Silver's own chamber. Three, New York republicans might as well hand in the towel. It's over for them. Done.