Retiring Sen. Barbara Mikulski opted for 'raising hell' over 'raising money'

For Sen. Barabara Mikulski, the decision to not run for re-election in 2016 is a license to go out swinging.

Maryland’s senior senator and the longest-serving woman in Congress announced Monday that she will retire when her fifth term ends in 2017. Mikulski, 78, said that as she weighed her options — run for re-election or retire — she decided she would rather spend the next two years focusing on issues that affect her constituents than running a campaign.

“I had to decide whether I wanted…