Rangel: I'll quit Congress if Democrats lose

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Charles Rangel, a powerful senior Democrat in Congress and the dean of New York's congressional delegation, said Wednesday that he'll quit Congress if the Democrats don't retake control of the House this year.

"I'm a poker player and I've had good hands all night long. This is all in," Rangel said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I would not put everything on the table if I thought for one minute we would lose."

Rangel, the ranking Democrat on the House Ways & Means Committee, is 76 years old and has spent 35 years in Congress. The Democrats need to gain 15 seats in the 2006 midterm election — a victory that would return Rangel to the chairmanship of the powerful committee.

"Hell, if we don't take back the House, then the Democrats would go down in history, saying that there's no group in the world that can grab defeat from the jaws of victory," Rangel said. "It just seems like America is so frustrated and fed up like I am and if she's not then I may have to say maybe it's me."