2009.03.19: March 19, 2009: Headlines: Figures: COS - Dominican Republic: Politics: Congress: The Hill: Storm center hanging over Chris Dodd
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2009.03.19: March 19, 2009: Headlines: Figures: COS - Dominican Republic: Politics: Congress: The Hill: Storm center hanging over Chris Dodd
Storm center hanging over Chris Dodd
The furor over the AIG bonuses and Dodd’s role in them couldn’t have come at a worse time for him. The past year has been a series of budding scandals for Connecticut’s longest-serving senator, who just two years ago fashioned himself a presidential contender. He has seen his approval rating drop slowly since then, but the last two weeks have cast a completely new face on his 2010 race. Last weekend, a week after a new poll showed Dodd trailing former Rep. Rob Simmons (R) by 1 percent, 43-42, Simmons entered the race, assuring Dodd would face a rare fight for his political life. And AIG was effectively thrown on top of Dodd’s other controversies: the so-called VIP mortgages he received from Countrywide Financial and a more recent flap about a cottage in Ireland he bought with a friend who was an associate of a man for whom Dodd later sought a pardon. “If you really do go deep into it, it’s quite possible that the senator would be exonerated,” Sacred Heart University Professor Gary Rose said of the AIG situation. “But what’s simplified in the minds of voters is that here’s a guy who got campaign money [from AIG], and he’s behind or involved in the amendment that has led to bonuses.” Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic in the 1960's.
Storm center hanging over Chris Dodd
Storm center hanging over Chris Dodd
By Aaron Blake
Posted: 03/19/09 08:16 PM [ET]
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) suffered repeated political blows this week, weakening his already tough reelection prospects, but Democrats are standing by their candidate as he faces the first big electoral challenge of his 29-year Senate career.
It’s been a rough week for the Capitol Hill veteran. For starters,
Dodd got his first Republican challenger of the 2010 election cycle as a new poll showed him in danger of losing the Senate seat he’s held since 1980.
But the biggest blow of all came in the form of the AIG bonus scandal. As bipartisan outrage over the $165 million bonus payout grew, the trail led to Dodd, the Senate Banking Committee chairman. Dodd initially fumbled his explanation about how the bonus loophole ended up in the stimulus bill but later admitted he had, in fact, been involved in the changes.
Though Dodd is still reeling from the past seven days, his five terms in the chamber and his clout as chairman appear to have averted an intra-party backlash.
Senate Democratic leaders and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) indicated Thursday that they are sticking by Dodd, while other members of the Senate expressed support for the increasingly embattled Banking Committee chairman.
“There is no better candidate to represent the people of Connecticut, and I have no question that he will continue to do so,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said.
“The people of Connecticut know he’s been a leader on this issue,” DSCC spokesman Eric Schultz said, “and any attempt to make him responsible for what happened at AIG is an absurd political cheap shot that won’t ring true to anyone even remotely familiar with his strong record on this.”
Dodd also got a semi-boost Thursday when Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner praised his “leadership role” on the stimulus. Geithner took some, but not all, responsibility for the bonus loophole, telling CNN that “Treasury staff were working with Sen. Dodd’s staff throughout this process.”
Speaking Thursday, Dodd dismissed talk that the DSCC wouldn’t wind up supporting him in his reelection bid, even as his problems have put a safe state in jeopardy.
“Not at all,” he said. “Quite the contrary. I’m the first horse out of the box here.”
The furor over the AIG bonuses and Dodd’s role in them couldn’t have come at a worse time for him. The past year has been a series of budding scandals for Connecticut’s longest-serving senator, who just two years ago fashioned himself a presidential contender.
He has seen his approval rating drop slowly since then, but the last two weeks have cast a completely new face on his 2010 race.
Last weekend, a week after a new poll showed Dodd trailing former Rep. Rob Simmons (R) by 1 percent, 43-42, Simmons entered the race, assuring Dodd would face a rare fight for his political life.
And AIG was effectively thrown on top of Dodd’s other controversies: the so-called VIP mortgages he received from Countrywide Financial and a more recent flap about a cottage in Ireland he bought with a friend who was an associate of a man for whom Dodd later sought a pardon.
“If you really do go deep into it, it’s quite possible that the senator would be exonerated,” Sacred Heart University Professor Gary Rose said of the AIG situation. “But what’s simplified in the minds of voters is that here’s a guy who got campaign money [from AIG], and he’s behind or involved in the amendment that has led to bonuses.”
Dodd blamed the kerfuffle on politics.
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