Posted on 03/18/2009 4:27:27 PM PDT by freespirited
The Wall Street Journal's Naftali Bendavid is reporting the following on the 2010 political race between U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd and former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons:
As Washington wrestles with a once-in-a-generation financial meltdown, Sen. Chris Dodd has as much riding on the outcome as anyone on Capitol Hill.
As Senate Banking Committee chairman, the Connecticut Democrat will be able to claim credit for new financial regulations the public wants. But he also is a longtime friend of Wall Street, making him a convenient scapegoat if voters sour on the government's handling of the economic crisis.
Already, a growing anti-industry backlash presages a tough re-election fight for Mr. Dodd next year -- a remarkable development given his popularity in a solidly Democratic state. Former Rep. Rob Simmons (R., Conn.) on Monday said he would challenge the senator in 2010, proclaiming in an interview that "it's time for a change."
With polls showing the men almost tied, there are signs Mr. Dodd may be staking out a newly populist stance, pushing for limits on executive pay over the objections of the White House and rattling markets by musing about nationalizing banks.
On Monday, Mr. Dodd criticized bonuses given to executives of American International Group Inc., the huge insurer that has received $173.3 billion in federal aid. "This is another outrageous example of executives -- including those whose decisions were responsible for the problems that caused AIG's collapse -- enriching themselves at the expense of taxpayers," he said.
The public's current attitude is "let's burn a few bankers alive," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in Hamden, Conn. Mr. Dodd "will do a lot of things that people will like in the next 20 months -- guaranteed. He's going to want to look good."
In an interview Friday, Mr. Dodd said he had made no populist shift. "I have never thought of myself in one camp or the other," he said. The pay limits were adopted unanimously by the Senate, he noted, and were intended to help restore confidence that the industry wouldn't use taxpayer money to reward people who helped create the problem. "It's not punitive, and it's not hostile," he said.
Like his House counterpart, Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.), Mr. Dodd will help remake financial-services rules. But some executives say that while Mr. Frank has tackled problems energetically, Mr. Dodd, hobbled by a controversy over his own mortgages and the aftermath of a failed presidential run, has been less vigorous.
"These issues are very complex, and they come up very infrequently," said one executive, who asked not to be named for fear of offending the powerful committee chairman. "It requires a lot of dedication by the chairmen. It remains to be seen what kind of role he wants to carve out."
Mr. Dodd insists he is pushing ahead and hopes to have a bill passed this summer. But the politics of the recession remain fluid. Voters are wary of bailouts, and the government's stimulus and rescue efforts may end up looking either visionary or wrongheaded.
Mr. Dodd is at the center of this shifting ground. At a time of voter fear and anger over turmoil in the financial and housing markets, he is caught in a furor over his relationship with the mortgage company Countrywide Financial Corp., and a former Republican state legislator is raising ethical questions about land Mr. Dodd owns in Ireland. A Quinnipiac poll in February found Connecticut voters disapproving of Mr. Dodd's performance by 48% to 41%.
It is too early to know whether he is in real jeopardy of losing his seat in 2010. Mr. Dodd is a skilled politician and fund-raiser re-elected in 2004 by 66%-32%, in a state where President Barack Obama won 61% of the vote.
But the Countrywide controversy has come at a bad time. It emerged in June that Mr. Dodd, who received two mortgages from the firm, was in a special program for "friends" of Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo. Mr. Dodd said he didn't seek, nor was he aware of, receiving any special rates or terms.
Mr. Dodd has always had good relations with financial firms -- and that could be a liability in the current climate. In the past six years, he has raised $1.5 million from the securities industry, third most among senators. The industry also gave $2.7 million to his presidential campaign.
Mr. Dodd has said he will no longer take contributions from firms that receive bailout money.
His fate rests in part on the strength of his challenger. A recent Quinnipiac poll found Mr. Simmons leading Mr. Dodd 43%-42%. Still, it is early in the election cycle, and Mr. Simmons narrowly lost his own district in 2006.
"I'm not arguing with the numbers," Mr. Dodd said. "People want to know if I'm working on their behalf and can I make a difference for them."
Whether he regains support could depend on how the financial-system overhaul unfolds. Mr. Dodd said he is moving deliberately due to Senate rules that force Democrats to consult heavily with Republicans and require a good deal of consensus-building.
"In the House, the rights of the majority prevail; in the Senate, the rights of the minority prevail," he said. "I have great admiration for Barney -- he's a great chairman -- but we have to do it differently."
It is so freakin funny to see Dodd caught red-handed with his hand sniffin his dookie finger. He lied like Bill Clinton. He is just as worthless and should be censured by the bozos in the Senate.
They must figure they can toss this useless idiot under the bus and still hold the seat next election (if not before).
Let’s retire the entire Democrat majority.
The problem is that most Americans only know what the television tells them, so they believe that it’s a bunch of fat cat Republicans causing all of this and facilitating the bonuses.
Where are the Republican issue ads?
The MSM is so stupid.
Yes, they are biased too, but -— there is a story out there just waiting for them and they ignore it!
The DEMOCRATS CAUSED this problem, at every single step!
Tedisco should beat the Dem, the Dem is an “investment banker” who does not pay his taxes!
(I am not kidding)
Also from the Hartford Courant:
=====================================================
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is targeting U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd in the 2010 race, has produced an anti-Dodd commercial with a St. Patrick's Day theme.
The commercial, which is being shown on the nationally known site www.politico.com, says, "The luck o' the Dodd is running out.''
The commercial makes references to Dodd's purchase of a home on 10 acres on an island in Ireland, his family's move to Iowa in 2007 during his run for the Democratic nomination for President, and his refinancing of two mortgages through Countrywide Financial. Dodd was placed in a special VIP program by Countrywide, but he has said repeatedly that he never sought any preferential treatment as a U.S. Senator on the powerful Senate Banking Committee.
Dodd is running for re-election against Republican Rob Simmons, and they are locked in a statistical dead heat in the latest Quinnipiac University poll. The poll showed Simmons ahead by 1 percentage point, which is within the margin of error.
retire? Let’s peel this sob like an onion
I say CT re-elects this criminal.
Instead, lets send him to prison for the rest of his miserable life.
Dodd is a CROOK and needs to be in PRISON.....next to BARNEY FRANK!
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