Written by Joe Tetreault | 06 January 2010

Ding Dodd, the graft is gone.

Well not likely, but the forthcoming announcement that CT senior Senator Chris Dodd will follow his conjoined twin on the take Byron Dorgan in a hasty retreat to the exits. Dodd's decision to not seek re-election proves we get results! Ha. Not really. Our poison penned piece proves that the swirling clouds were impossible for Senator Dodd to ignore. He becomes Senator Lame Duck Dodd - a fitting moniker for someone whose fall from power was as comical as the character the name echoes - Long Duck Dong.

Dodd's announcement will cap a 24 hour stretch where four prominent Democrats are announcing they will choose not to face the voters and step aside with their dignity intact. A curious measure of dignity, not losing at the ballot box is dignified. Al Davis may be a doddering old fool in his own right, but his mantra - "Just win, baby" - has become a national ideology.  Resurrecting dinosaurs like Walter Mondale (in Minnesota after Paul Wellstone's tragic death) and Frank Lautenberg (in New Jersey after Robert Torricelli political immolation) to try to hold seats for the incumbent party (Mondale lost, Lautenberg won) has become a common practice.  Dodd got out early, rather than waiting for the poll numbers to be carved in stone.

Politico is acknowledging the 2010 mid-terms may be a historically bad election for an incumbent party. But they make one notable miscalculation:

Democrats are now facing their bleakest election outlook in years—and the very real possibility the party will lose its 60-40 Senate supermajority after the November elections. On the House side, the prospect of heavy 20-30 seat losses is already looking increasingly likely.

The loss of the supermajority may be two weeks away as Scott Brown is within striking distance of Martha Coakley in the special election to replace the late Ted Kennedy. Special elections turn on the strangest of factors, and in the height of the anti-incumbent, anti-Democrat wave that washes the electorate, now is not the time to run as a typical Massachusetts liberal, even in Massachusetts.

Back home in Connecticut, Dodd's retirment may actually be the best news the Democrats could get. The CT GOP remains in shambles with but one credible, electable official at the statewide level - Governor Jodi Rell. And she, too, has opted out of the next campaign, choosing to not seek re-election in 2010. The Post piece I cite above suggests Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal will seek the Democrat nomination to replace Dodd. Very quickly, the leads that challengers Rob Simmons and Linda McMahon had enjoyed in the polls will evaporate. That's because Simmons and McMahon primary attribute was their un-Doddness. With Dodd sticking a fork in himself, that benefit ceases to be relevant. The Democrats may have staunched their hemorrhaging, as Ed Driscoll notes several sources who say the beating Dodd was taking and the closeness of the race in Massachusetts is prompting the Democrats to act. And act quickly.

I'll be following the story through the day, so check back for updates.

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