Word is out that Rep. Barney Frank will not seek reelection in 2012.

In February, Frank denied retirement rumors. Massachusetts Democrats had faced a bit of a challenge in redistricting, because for a while they had 10 Democrat incumbents and only nine districts starting in 2012 – but Rep. John Olver is also retiring.

Earlier this year, Republican Sean Bielat had been thinking about a rematch against Frank, depending on how the new district lines ended up being drawn. Under the new lines, Frank’s district actually got a bit more Democratic — under the new lines, McCain won 39 percent, George W. Bush won 38 percent, and it scores a D+10 in the Cook Partisan Voting Index.

Bielat’s former spokeswoman, Lisa Barstow, signed on with Elizabeth Childs’ bid a few weeks ago.

Is it crazy to take on Frank or any other Democrat in this district? Childs could diagnose that: “A psychiatrist, Childs is a member of the town school committee and was the commissioner of mental health under former Gov. Mitt Romney.”