Senator Dodd (D) to retire

[jimmy olsen]

Unlike Drogan, I think this is actually good news for the Dems since who ever replaces Dodd has a much better chance than he does given the demographics of the state.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6800786.html

AP sources: Conn. Sen. Chris Dodd to retire
By LIZ SIDOTI AP National Political Writer © 2010 The Associated Press
Jan. 6, 2010, 12:35AM

WASHINGTON — Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd, a five-term Democrat whose political stock began falling after the financial meltdown and his failed 2008 presidential bid, has decided not to seek re-election in November, Democratic officials told The Associated Press early Wednesday.

Dodd was expected to make an announcement Wednesday. The officials who disclosed his plans would speak only on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement. The Washington Post first reported Dodd's decision.

Word of his retirement comes hours after North Dakota Democrat Byron Dorgan announced he will not seek re-election.

Dodd, 66, is chairman of Senate Banking Committee, which was at the center of efforts to deal with the economic meltdown. And he has played a prominent role in the debate over overhauling health care, taking over for his friend Ted Kennedy during his illness and then after his death.

Given Dodd's bad poll standing, other Democrats have gone out of their way to give him the spotlight in hopes he could recover before November.

With the embattled Dodd stepping aside, Democrats can now try to recruit a more popular candidate to run in Democratic-leaning state, bolstering the prospects of thwarting a Republican victory.

Dodd, who has taken heat for a discounted VIP mortgage loan he got from a subprime lender, has been consistently behind potential GOP challenger Rob Simmons in Connecticut polls. Simmons, a former House member, has his own challenger in World Wrestling Entertainment co-founder Linda McMahon, who is also seeking the Republican nomination for Dodd's seat.

Among the early favorites to replace Dodd is longtime Connecticut state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who is seen as one of the state's most popular politicians.

Dodd ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, moving his family to Iowa for weeks before the caucuses and angering Connecticut constituents. He dropped out after a poor showing in Iowa.

As chairman of the Senate banking panel, Dodd has come under fire for his reliance on Wall Street contributions. He drew criticism for his role in writing a bill that protected bonuses for executives at bailed-out insurer American International Group Inc. and for allegations he got favorable treatment on two mortgages with Countrywide Financial Corp.

The Senate ethics panel cleared Dodd of breaking rules by getting the Countrywide mortgages but scolded him for not doing more to avoid the appearance of sweetheart deals. The Countrywide controversy, however, dogged Dodd for several months.

Dodd in August underwent surgery for prostate cancer. He also lost his closest friend in the Senate, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who died last summer after a battle with brain cancer.

Connecticut is a Democratic state that President Barack Obama won handily in 2008.

___

Associated Press writers and Andrew Miga and David Espo contributed to this report.

[CountDeMoney]

Double posting douche.

[jimmy olsen]

Double posting douche.

Two different senators, two different articles, two different comments by me.

[KRonn]

I won't be sad to see him go. Now if only some Massachusetts Senators would retire that would be good, including the Democrat who gets elected to replace Kennedy.   

[Eddie Teach]

You want GOP senators, you need to move to a different state.

[Valmy]

You want GOP senators, you need to move to a different state.

That state did elect Romney so anything is possible.

[Eddie Teach]

They elected him governor though. Ideology isn't as crucial in gubernatorial races.

[Fate]

Kronn isn't exposed to the Southern Republican party on a daily basis, so he knows not what he asks for. 

[KRonn]

Hmm....Dodd was forced out of running, I'd say. His pol ratings were in the gutter; he was suffering from Countrywide-gate (I wonder when(if) the Congress can get that investigated!). I think they investigated baseball players on steroids faster. Dodd suffered over enabling AIG bonuses, though I don't care about that. He suffered, rightly or wrongly, getting some flak over the financial collapse as a member of the Finance committee. And what ever else this dinosaur caused annoyance with Connecticut voters.

Now he, "graciously" says that he's stepping aside to make room for someone else! Bah!Dodd had just run for President in the primaries vs Obama. And now he says he wants to leave politics? More likely he's leaving, making room for a much better Dem candidate, before the voters tarred, feathered and ran him out of town, and voted Republican. Now the Dem who will run should fare much better than Dodd will, and should have good chances of winning. 

This is like Kennedy deciding that he wouldn't run, being so low in pols and among voters. A stalward among voters, he'd have to have come to quite a change to be so low. As for Dodd, same thing. His father was a Congressman too, the family has been a major factor in CT politics for probably half a century.

[KRonn]

Kronn isn't exposed to the Southern Republican party on a daily basis, so he knows not what he asks for. 

Yeah, but I've had my fill for far too long of North Eastern liberal Dems.   

[Sheilbh]

This is like Kennedy deciding that he wouldn't run, being so low in pols and among voters. A stalward among voters, he'd have to have come to quite a change to be so low. As for Dodd, same thing. His father was a Congressman too, the family has been a major factor in CT politics for probably half a century.

I find the dynasties the most weird thing about American politics.  The thing I just don't really understand at all.  I mean just looking at the last 50 years you've had a lot of the Kennedy-Shriver-Schwarzenegger family, the Rockefellers, the Bidens, the Daleys, the Romneys, the Bushes, the Murkowskis, you have two Uddall brothers in Congress who were the cousins of a Senator (recently lost his election).  Prior to that there's the Roosevelts and the Tafts and so on.

I mean we've got a Queen and a few hereditary Lords left but they've no power.  The closest examples I can think of in the Commons are Tony and Hilary Benn - though being Tony Benn's son certainly didn't help Hilary.  There's the Miliband brothers but again they didn't do well because their father was a respected Marxist intellectual

[KRonn]

Sheilbh, it must be that deep down we Americans actually are jealous of you Brits with your Royalty and tradition, so we try to have the next nearest thing to Royalty.     

[Sheilbh]

Sheilbh, it must be that deep down we Americans actually are jealous of you Brits with your Royalty and tradition, so we try to have the next nearest thing to Royalty. 

Buy some ermine for the Senators to wear and then purge the inheriteds

[KRonn]

Sheilbh, it must be that deep down we Americans actually are jealous of you Brits with your Royalty and tradition, so we try to have the next nearest thing to Royalty. 

Buy some ermine for the Senators to wear and then purge the inheriteds

Maybe, at least, they can adopt that idea of wearing the white or powdered wigs too.   

[Admiral Yi]

Dodd's announcement prompted the following trivia question on yesterday's NPR Political Junkie: which father/son tandem have combined for the longest combined time in the US Senate since the Senate switched to the popular vote, in 1913?