Democrats John Conyers, John Dingell, and Charles Rangel were in the wilderness from 1994 to 2006, the years of Republican rule of the House of Representatives. They endured the shame of being in the minority. Then Democrats regained control of the House, and, at age 77, Conyers became chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. It was his second stint as committee chairman. Dingell got back the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which he'd held earlier for 14 years. He was 80. And when Rangel became chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee last year, he was 76.

What kept them from retiring after 1994 was their expectation that Democrats would win back the House quickly (they were wrong about that). Now Republicans in the House have the opposite expectation. They believe the prospects of a Republican revival in the foreseeable future are exceedingly poor. So 30 of them, including some of the party's brightest stars, are retiring. Four have already quit, resigning rather than finishing out their final term.

This is a serious problem for Republicans in the 2008 election. The retirees have created an unusually large number of open Republican seats, exciting Democrats. Defeating incumbents is difficult, but open seats are easier for the opposition party to win. Here are the stories of four Republicans who are retiring.

The Dealmaker. Jim McCrery of Louisiana, the senior Republican on Ways and Means, came close to retiring in 2004. He rebuffed pleas by President Bush and Vice President Cheney that he run for reelection. But his wife, who lived with his two sons in their home in Shreveport, intervened. Knowing that his goal was to be Ways and Means chairman, she urged him to stay in Congress and said she and the boys would live in Washington. The result: They moved and he ran and won.

When Democrats took over after the 2006 election, McCrery, 57, figured he could still play a significant role on major issues like Social Security and tax reform and perhaps even Medicare. His strong relationship with Rangel, the new chairman, gave him encouragement. He spent four months in 2007 negotiating secretly with Rangel. "Charlie and I made some progress working together" on overhauling Social Security and the tax code, McCrery says. Then Rangel informed him that their efforts were for naught. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had ruled out any compromise with Republicans on these issues.

That left McCrery with a minimal role and little hope of a larger one any time soon. "Prospects for the '08 election reversing the Democratic majority don't look particularly bright," he says. If he had to wait 12 years, as the Democrats did, he'd be 70 before his shot at the Ways and Means chairmanship-too long. "It just seemed like the right time [to retire]," he says. This time, after 20 years in Congress, he's not changing his mind.

The Uniter. Ray LaHood of Illinois says his favorite time in the House was when he co-chaired four "bipartisan summits" that brought together Republican and Democratic House members, with their spouses and children, at a retreat outside Washington. The first in 1995 drew 200 members, 150 spouses, and 100 kids. "Those are the kinds of things where people develop relationships beyond Congress," he said.