Lincoln National Corp. (LNC) has issued $300 million in senior notes, which prefunds $250 million in debt expiring in early 2010. We are assigning our 'A-' rating to the notes. We are affirming our other ratings on LNC. The outlook remains stable, reflecting LNC's strong liquidity position and our expectation that the life operations will maintain adequate capitalization and will improve their earnings performance. SAN FRANCISCO (Standard&Poor's) Dec. 8, 2009--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said it assigned its 'A-' issue credit rating to Lincoln National Corp.'s (LNC) $300 million issuance of senior notes. At the same time, we affirmed our 'AA-' counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on LNC's life insurance operations (Lincoln) and our 'A-' counterparty