I'll Help You Pack

Rats, we aren't going to have Chris Dodd to kick around for much longer: Senator Dodd Will Not Seek Re-Election

Senator Christopher J. Dodd, the embattled Connecticut Democrat who was facing an increasingly tough bid for a sixth term in the Senate, has decided to step aside and not seek re-election, Democrats familiar with his plans said Wednesday.

Mr. Dodd, 65, will announce his decision at a news conference later in the day in Connecticut.

The decision came a day after another Democratic senator, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, said that he would not seek re-election this November. The developments underscored the fragility of the Democrats’ 60-vote Senate majority, enough to block Republican filibusters. Democratic incumbents also face serious challenges in Arkansas, Colorado, Nevada and Pennsylvania among other states.

Of course, in a normally functioning system, Dodd would have been gone long ago. Instead, he will have served 30 years (!) in the Senate when all is said and done. And, in the classic way of the world, he was a "liberal" whose greatest legacies may well end up being the waitress sandwich and the Crash of '08, and whose fund raising base was Wall Street. Not the first thing you think of when you think "liberal lion." He will obviously not be missed