Senator Chris Dodd in Political Trouble

Chris Dodd, the long-serving senior Senator from Connecticut now in his fifth term, is in political trouble. Most polls show that Chris Dodd's job approval has plummeted and that he is in danger of losing his next bid for reelection in 2010.

Senator Chris Dodd has been hammered for his involvement in the sub-prime mortgage catastrophe that caused the current economic crisis. Chris Dodd has also raised eyebrows due to his refinancing of home loans under a "VIP program" with a controversial lender Countrywide Financial. Questions have also been raised about a cottage Chris Dodd owns in Ireland thanks to the largess of a man he obtained a partner for. The latter scandal was the subject of a whimsical commercial with a St. Patrick's Day theme paid for by the Republican Senatorial Committee.

A number of Republicans have expressed interest in running against Chris Dodd next year. They include Robb Simmons, a moderate former Congressman, a Vietnam veteran and former CIA agent. A Quinnipac Poll finds Simmons in a virtual dead heat with Dodd in a Senate race match-up.

The idea that a long serving Senator in a blue state is in political trouble is remarkable, considering how the Republicans have been hammered in the last two elections. With the Democrats in firm control of the Presidency and with comfortable majorities in both house of Congress, it is no longer possible to blame Republicans for anything wrong that happens.

The junior Senator from Connecticut is Joe Lieberman, an independent who lost his last primary but went on to win in the general election anyway. This has allowed Joe Lieberman, while still caucusing with Democrats, to vote and behave in a more centrist way than he would otherwise have been obliged to be as a loyal Democrat. Lieberman's success may indicate that while Connecticut may not be about to turn red, it is at least flirting with purple.

The Rasmussen poll suggests that Chris Dodd's problems may adhere to Democrats as a whole. The generic party preference, according to Rasmussen, favors Republicans in the 2010 election for the first time in many years.

Of course 2010 is still a long way away and anything can happen between now and the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 2010. But the trend lines do not look good either for Chris Dodd or for Democrats as a whole. The question is, can Republicans take advantage of this change of political fortune by uniting behind a political message and running with it to victory, as they did in 1994?

Source: Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, a Senate fixture, may have a serious Republican challenger, Robin Abcarian, LA Times, March 18th, 2009

Video: Luck o' The Dodd, Ed Morrissey, Hotair, March 17th, 2009