Dodd won't give no satisfaction
01/06/10
In a story that broke over night, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Countrywide Conn.) announced he'll retire at the end of this term:
Once among the safest of incumbents, Dodd's political star fell over a two-year period, during which he moved his family to Iowa to pursue the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination and was linked to a VIP mortgage loan program overseen by a controversial Wall Street financier. He also drew harsh questions about his oversight of Wall Street, as chair of the Senate Banking Committee, in the years when the nation's financial system was heading toward near collapse.
Apparently Dodd read the tea leaves, err..., polls and saw the likely embarrassing outcome:
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in Connecticut now finds Dodd attracting just 35% to 40% of the vote against three possible Republican challengers.
Former GOP Congressman Rob Simmons is still his toughest opponent, leading Dodd 48% to 35%. Seven percent (7%) prefer some other candidate in this contest, and 11% are undecided. Those figures are a slight improvement for Simmons since September.
The newest Republican in the race, Linda McMahon, the ex-CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, earns 44% of the vote to Dodd’s 38%. Eight percent (8%) opt for another candidate, with nine percent (9%) not sure.
That's right, folks. He was trailing even to the wife of WWE CEO Vince McMahon. Insert your own "smack down" joke here.
This is the kind of thing that happens when you're pushing to direct billions of taxpayer dollars to mortgage companies to insure bad mortgages, all while receiving sweetheart deals from said lenders, who also happen to be, in a completely unrelated story, major contributors to your campaign:
Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd has finally, sort of, kind of, ended 193 days of stonewalling about his sweetheart loans from former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo. At least he did if you were a fast reader and were one of the few reporters he invited to his Hartford office yesterday to review -- but not copy or take -- more than 100 pages of documents related to his 2003 mortgage financings through Countrywide's "Friends of Angelo" program.
These are the files that Mr. Dodd pledged to make public after the news broke last summer that the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee had received preferential treatment from Countrywide. At first, Mr. Dodd denied everything. Later, he conceded that he'd been given special treatment but thought it was "more of a courtesy."
Heck, we'd all love the kind of courtesy that would have saved Mr. Dodd $75,000 over the life of the two loans he refinanced to the tune of $800,000, according to an analysis by Portfolio magazine. The savings came from rock-bottom interest rates and a free "float-down" -- the right to borrow at a lower rate if interest rates fall before you've closed on the loan.
And just when you thought he couldn't get anymore cowardly than not facing the press... he decides not to face his constituents either.
In related news, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D-AIG Soap Box Conn.) is expected to announce his candidacy for the seat. You might remember Mr. Blumenthal from this terribly emberassing interview with Glenn Beck in which he more or less aquiessed to the reality that he had no legal authority whatsoever to target the top execs of AIG...
Oh well. With Dodd out, I guess conservatives will have to get our jollies from dispatching Harry Reid. It'll do, I guess.