**Breaking: Chris Dodd Will Not Seek Re-Election**

[Clio the Leo]

Now THAT ONE shocked ME!

Chris Dodd to step aside
Embattled Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd (D) has scheduled a press conference at his home in Connecticut Wednesday at which he is expected to announce he will not seek re-election, according to sources familiar with his plans.

Dodd's retirement comes after months of speculation about his political future, and amid faltering polling numbers and a growing sense among the Democratic establishment that he could not win a sixth term. It also comes less than 24 hours after Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) announced he would not seek re-election.

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is widely expected to step into the void filled by Dodd and, at least at first blush, should drastically increase Democrats' chances of holding the seat.

Blumenthal, who has served as state Attorney General since 1990, is the most popular politician in the state and has long coveted a Senate seat; he had already signaled that he would run for the Democratic nomination against Sen. Joe Lieberman (I) in 2012. (A sidenote: Assuming Blumenthal gets in to the race, Rep. Chris Murphy could be the long-term beneficiary as he is widely regarded as a rising star and would be at the top of the list of Democratic hopefuls to challenge Lieberman in 2012.)

Without Dodd as a foil, Republicans chances of taking over a seat in this solidly blue state are considerably diminished. Former Rep. Rob Simmons and wealthy businesswoman Linda McMahon are battling it out for the Republican nod but either would start as an underdog in a general election matchup with Blumenthal.

Dodd joins North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan on the sidelines for Democrats. Six Republicans Senators are not seeking re-election in November.

Dodd's retirement comes roughly two years after his presidential ambitions came to an end in the Iowa caucuses. Dodd, always a longshot in a field filled with better known and better financed candidates, had moved his family to the Hawkeye State in the fall of 2007 in hopes of generating some excitement for his bid. The move backfired on the Democratic incumbent as many Connecticut voters bristled.

More
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/senate/chris-dodd-to-step-aside.html

[dkf]

1. Huh?

Dorgan not running too. Yikes.

[Peacetrain]

2. Holy Mackerel...

What is going on today?

[Clio the Leo]

9. The buzz all night has been that once Dorgan resigned....

.... it might start the ball rolling for others ... but it's also hard to believe that Dodd came to this conclusion tonight.

[Captain Hilts]

12. Dorgan is one of the few progressives in the Senate. I'm disappointed. nt

[karynnj]

51. I think this is about the last month or so where an incumbent can do so without

leaving the party struggling to replace them.

I had known nothing about ND, but the CT race was one that people have watched polls since almost November 2008. Dodd and others helping him tried, but he has not really pulled up his numbers. The reality, that has to be hard for Dodd, is that his choice was likely defeat in November or stepping down.

This gives him a chance to focus on banking reform to try to salvage his reputation. Given that his father's disgrace was something that affected him as a young adult, anything that tries to salvage his reputation has to be something of importance. It has to have been a rollercoaster ride for him - raising in seniority to be able to chair HELP, Banking or SFRC, being a candidate for President and a candidate within the party (in 2005) for majority leader - all the time as a Senator with high approval ratings in his state to being the Democrat most likely to lose his seat in 2010 articles over the last year.

He brought this on himself, but I really do feel sorry for him - and glad he has the wisdom to step down.

[JI7]

3. it says he wont run for re-election, not that he is resigning

at least from what i read

[Clio the Leo]

6. Sorry, fixed it. NT

[jefferson_dem]

4. Sad to see him go out like this but this is actually good news for the Dems

in terms of balance of power.

Blumenthal is strong and a loyal progressive.

[LiberalAndProud]

36. Does Blumental look strong?

[Parker CA]

Hopefully this is not related to his cancer.

[gateley]

17. I was actually looking for that in the article, it was my first thought, but no mention of it. nt

[NoSheep]

5. And Cheney isn't in jail.

[liskddksil]

7. Good - Now we have a chance to keep the seat

I hope Lamont switches from the Governor's race.

[ShortnFiery]

8. Good.

I take it he'll still keep his 4% interest rate on the Home Mortgage gleaned via "special treatment" financial connections <wink wink> years ago? :eyes:

Good Riddance to corrupt politicians of any stripe.

[defendandprotect]

10. Rather than what we shoudl be seeing . . . the death of the Repug Party . . .

IMO, we're seeing the fatal damage done to the Democratic Party since '63 ....

right wing political violence pays off!

In fact, I don't know if we can ever be free of aggression/violence --

and violence will always win!



:nuke:

[ShortnFiery]

13. This has little to nothing to do with the right wing. Dodd messed up in a number of venues.

I was so disgusted when I found out that he snagged a 4% home mortgage YEARS AGO due to his political position and connections.

I'm so damn tired of corrupt politicians ... I don't care if they're from my party - corrupt is corrupt. :thumbsdown:

[Mojorabbit]

28. I have a 4 percent

mortgage too and I am not a Senator so that part never bothered me.

[ShortnFiery]

49. You didn't SCORE that 4% in the year 2000. Yes, 30 year mortgages have been as low as that but not

back when Dodd scored his from the uber-financial elite.

[Mojorabbit]

61. My mortgage is a 15 year

and we refinanced it at 4 percent and there is 6 years left on it.

[stevenleser]

47. Happy to agree with you here.

No reason for that. These guys make a lot of money and have a lot of legal perks. They dont need to go shady...

[defendandprotect]

56. Granted, Dodd is a "lesser of evils" . . . his leaving means only that the party

is now more solidly in the hands of the "greater evil" --



In this case, Mr. Dodd was already considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats facing re-election this November, and party officials had been privately hoping he would step aside.
His move opens the way for the state’s highly popular attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, to run. Democrats and Republicans said he would be a much stronger candidate in what is a Democratic state.


Mr. Dodd has been a fixture in the Senate since his election in 1980 and had been at the center of the contentious recent debates on overhauling the health care system and financial regulation. In November he proposed an overhaul that included consolidating bank regulators, creating a consumer financial protection agency and imposing new restraints on exotic financial instruments and credit rating agencies.

But his standing in Connecticut had been on the decline — and when questions arose about a disputed loan he took from Countrywide Financial, the fallen subprime company.

Moved his family to Iowa???

Needless to say, his illness may also be a larger factor in his leaving than we know.../?

[Pirate Smile]

11. This gives us a better chance of keeping that seat. I'm sorry for Dodd but its good for Dems.

[girl gone mad]

18. It would be nice to see other corporatists follow suit..

and step aside.

This "friend of Angelo" had no chance. It would have been another Corzine, only not as close. Anyone with the stench of failed banker on them should do the party a favor and walk away.

[LovinLife]

14. Oh hell. Panic mode. NT

[Pirate Smile]

29. No, now the Connecticut Senate seat will be safe dem whereas with Dodd it was going to be a loss.

[Mythbuster]

15. Dodd is a liar anyway...

...he needs to be replaced to save the seat, and few people will have there feelings hurt when he's gone.

[wisteria]

25. Dodd is a good man, he has been made a scapegoat by others.

Watch who you call a liar.

[Mythbuster]

60. Whatever

I watched Dodd on CNN unequivocally state multiple times that he had nothing at all to do with adding the clause to allow big bonuses to CEO's of Tarp recipients. Then I watched him less than 24 hrs later admit that it in fact was him that added the clause. Anyone that can look directly at the camera and assure his constituents he did no such thing only to recant the many statements a day later is a practiced liar. Sorry, but the truth isn't always pleasant.

[mmonk]

64. "Truth" can be a slippery thing to grasp

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/03/17/dodd/index.html

Jane Hamsher has written the definitive post narrating and indisputably documenting what actually took place. The attempt to blame Dodd is based on a patently false claim that was first fed to The New York Times on Saturday by an "administration official" granted anonymity by Times reporters Edmund Andrew and Peter Baker (in violation, as usual, of the NYT anonymity policy, since all the official was doing was disseminating pro-administration spin). The accusation against Dodd is that there is nothing the Obama administration can do about the AIG bonus payments because Dodd inserted a clause into the stimulus bill which exempted executive compensation agreements entered into before February, 2009 from the compensation limits imposed on firms receiving bailout funds. Thus, this accusation asserts, it was Dodd's amendment which explicitly allowed firms like AIG to make bonus payments that were promised before the stimulus bill was enacted.

That is simply not what happened. What actually happened is the opposite. It was Dodd who did everything possible -- including writing and advocating for an amendment -- which would have applied the limitations on executive compensation to all bailout-receiving firms, including AIG, and applied it to all future bonus payments without regard to when those payments were promised. But it was Tim Geithner and Larry Summers who openly criticized Dodd's proposal at the time and insisted that those limitations should apply only to future compensation contracts, not ones that already existed. The exemption for already existing compensation agreements -- the exact provision that is now protecting the AIG bonus payments -- was inserted at the White House's insistence and over Dodd's objections. But now that a political scandal has erupted over these payments, the White House is trying to deflect blame from itself and heap it all on Chris Dodd by claiming that it was Dodd who was responsible for that exemption.

[cal04]

16. NBC News confirms Sen. Chris Dodd to announce he's retiring

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34714651/ns/politics-capitol_hill/

Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd will announce Wednesday that he is retiring ahead of his re-election this November, sources told NBC News policital director Chuck Todd.

The embattled Connecticut senator has scheduled a press conference at his home Wednesday, the Washington Post reported Tuesday night.



Mr. Dodd’s decision was first reported by The Washington Post, and later confirmed by his associates.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/us/politics/06dodd.html?hp

[gateley]

19. Oh dear -- that 'ahead of re-election' makes me wonder again if it's for

health reasons. I haven't heard any references to his cancer at all.

[Parker CA]

23. Probably wouldn't mention it in the press release, but rather wait to say it in his statement.

Hopefully this is a move based on his current polling rather than the cancer he had been dealing with. Good vibes to Dodd and his family.

[gateley]

34. You're right, although I don't think the media would hold back if they could

get a buzz from speculation.

I sure hope it's political, too (and from what was written, it would be a good move for the Dem party). I think he's a good man.

[bluestateguy]

20. As long as Blumenthal runs and we don't get stuck with some lightweight minor league candidate

then it's good news.

[LiberalAndProud]

38. ...

Keepin' my powder dry then.

[ProSense]

21. He was facing a tough battle.

Interesting that both Dorgan and Dodd decide to retire.

[Clio the Leo]

22. Theory....

.... after Dorgan announces HIS retirement and opening up a possible Dem loss .... the powers that be convince Dodd (someone they thought they might lose anyway) to retire in an effort to save THAT seat by running a more progressive/popular candidate ... that way they risk only losing one seat and not two?

Thoughts?

[wisteria]

27. I don't by it. Pa is not looking real good right now either.

We will have two Dems battling it out in a primary and the weakened winner will take on the hand picked and well financed (think Richard Mellon Scaife) crazy in the mode of Santorum, Republican.

[Mass]

40. Dodd was going to lose badly. Many people had asked him to leave the race to let his place to

somebody more liked.

As for PA, I live far from there, but running a sick and old Specter was not that great an idea in the first place. The man is going to be 80. May be that should be a sign it is time for him to retire.

[old mark]

43. Specter has been a Senator for decades and should step down, too -

I'm not supporting him.
Dodd has been in office since 1980, and is under attack for taking money from Countrywide loan company.

mark

[Hippo_Tron]

45. Getting Specter on board was more about 2009 than 2010

They needed his vote to get health care and if he had been running as a Republican with his most serious opposition coming from the right, there's not a chance he would've voted for it.

[karynnj]

53. But, allowing him to run on the Democratic line, with the party favoring him

might have been the cost of getting that 60th vote for healthcare. Specter wanted to run and if he were fighting what would be a losing battle in the primary, he definately would not have voted for it.

[karynnj]

52. On another link - there was analysis that if the popular Republican governor of ND entered,

Dorgan could no longer win. So, it might be that Dorgan, although more likely to win than any other Democrat, was a long shot.

[wisteria]

24. If this turns out to be true, than I am sad. I would have wished him to stay on and fight for his

seat. Dodd is a good man. He has been made a scapegoat. I hope this has nothing to do with his health.

[karynnj]

54. I am sad, but less than sad than it would be to see him run and lose

Primary opponents, if any, and the Republican would focus in on the negatives. For the last year, friends of Dodd - including Ted Kennedy and John Kerry defended the good that he did in emails. I think Vickie Kennedy did as well. People in CT have heard what they had to say -- and the poll numbers have not risen.

You could say that he is unlucky in the timing of when he had to defend a sweetheart mortgage from a company he regulated and which wrote many of the sup prime mortgages that nearly drove the world's financial system over the cliff. The Senate did not find an ethics violation, but the people of CT did. As much as anyone on this board, I have cautioned using the open secrets numbers to imply corruption - but, Dodd, is the Democrat who received by far the most PAC money from the Finance section. That he regulates many is at least a perceived problem.

Stepping down, especially if he works harder to regulate the banks, could help him salvage his reputation - when Democrats say good bye speaking of things like the family leave bill he introduced and sponsored.

[PM Martin]

26. kick

[LittleBlue]

30. Crap.

That sucks. Not as bad as Dorgan, but bad.

[DrToast]

31. Sounds like he's going to take one for the team

He wasn't going to win anyway. Now we have a chance to keep the seat.

[alp227]

32. I'm stunned.

Two prominent progressive Democrats retire on a year that Republicans will clone from 1994 if we don't act.

[DrToast]

33. Republicans aren't happy about this

Dodd running was their best chance at picking up the seat.

[Jennicut]

58. It was more about Dodd's personal issues then anything else. He had that loan scandal.

[Mass]

35. No surprise. Dodd was going to be beaten badly. Contrarily to North Dakota, there are people

in CT that can win this election for us, starting by Blumenthal. (Dodd was given losing againt Linda McMahon. It was a pretty good sign it was time to leave and something asked by many Dems in CT.

[depakid]

46. Both likely had nasty internals

-though Dorgan COULD have won- provided that Democrats- led by the administration were willing to stand up and fight for our traditional values.

But as we have seen- they are not.

[DrToast]

37. PPP: "Our CT polling is confirming a Blumenthal/Dodd swap would make the seat uber safe for Dems"

http://twitter.com/ppppolls

[LiberalAndProud]

39. Very nice. It also explains the timing of Dodd's pending announcement.

Anythin on there about ND?

[Pirate Smile]

42. ND is probably a goner. Very Popular Republican governor will run and he would have beat

Dorgan which is why he isn't running. No deep Dem bench in ND.

[LiberalAndProud]

44. He will be missed.

I suspect much the same will happen to Ben Nelson in 2012 (who will be missed - less). Same song, different state.

[angee_is_mad]

41. Kick

and keep kicking.

[jefferson_dem]

48. Richard Blumenthal says he will seek to replace Christopher Dodd in U.S. Senate - AP

http://twitter.com/BreakingNews/statuses/7438379286

[Jennicut]

57. Wow. He is very popular here. This is going to get interesting here in CT.

[high density]

50. OK, I got a email on new years eve from Dodd that said

Dear Friend,

The Republicans are desperate to pick up seats in the Senate so they can grind the legislative process to a complete halt. They don't care about the consequences other than their own political gain. To that end, they have declared my seat as one of their top targets and they intend to spend whatever it takes to win. We need your help to fight back.

Tomorrow is a critical fundraising deadline. This is an important moment and we must demonstrate to my opponents and the special interests and right-wing activists who fund their campaigns that we'll be ready to fight back against every baseless attack, every distortion and every assault on our values. I intend to give this effort every ounce of energy I have - but to win I'll need you to stand with me.

Contribute before tomorrow's deadline.

Thanks,

Chris

I guess he didn't raise much?

[bigwillq]

55. Good.

It's the right thing to do. I wasn't going to vote for Dodd anyway. I will support Attorney General Dickie B. He will get my vote.

[Jennicut]

59. Being from CT I can say this was the right thing for him to do. He was going to lose badly.

Blumenthal probably will win this won for the Dems and has little baggage.

[Arkana]

62. Dodd's a good man and I'm sorry to see him go.

But his leaving means we keep the seat in November.

[bdamomma]

63. it should have been Lieberman to step down.