When Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana announced last Friday that he would vote against Larry Summers’ putative candidacy for Fed chairman if it came before the Senate Banking Committee, he put a dagger in Summers’ Fed career before it even started. Tester would have made the fourth Democratic nay vote in the committee, and it is highly unlikely that Republicans would have taken up the slack to push through a Summers nomination.

So over the weekend, Summers wisely withdrew from the horserace, telling President Obama that the confirmation process would be too political and acrimonious.