Goodby Dodd...about time you left

It is sweet, but it would have been much sweeter if he had just came out and said "My constituants, my country, I have violated my oath of office repeatedly, saught great power and wealth and in doing so, have betrayed you all. Because of this, I am no longer fit to hold the honor of sitting in the senate and serving you. So I am bowing out in dishonor so that a more honorable person can take my place"...

Before Senator Dodd made his statement I'd heard several reasons given - both for his decision not to run for reelection and for his poor showing in the polls. One of the latter was what you mentioned and another was that some Connecticut resident weren't happy about his choice to move his family to Iowa for a time in 2008 while he ran unsuccessfully for the Presidential nomination. Personally, I think Dodd will be greatly missed! I sure haven't agreed with every single thing he's ever done, including what I saw as a move to the right in helping ensure the bonuses could be paid, but how could anyone possibly agree with everything any politician had done in a career that spanned over three decades? Whatever the case, I wouldn't call him either corrupt or "the bad guy". Ultimately, it would have been up to the people of his state and now we'll never really know if it would have been winnable or not had he stayed in the race. Strangely enough, Dodd's dropping out probably made it more likely that the Democrats will hold on to that Senate seat. Annie

No he was not winnable he would have been easily defeated by any of his Republican opponents. The part that does not seem right is Dodd is still the winner here. Did he get punished for being bribed, no yet his decision that were persuaded by those bribes up on capital hill hurt a lot of American. He still gets to claim his pension while many are losing their pension. He will probably get a great job while many do not have a job. He still gets to live in that home that was basically paid for by Country Wide while many do not have a home anymore. So he will not have his power, true for a man like Dodd power is everything, so maybe he is being punished.

Well I wish he'd retired a long time ago, but I'm glad his actions led him to give up rather than try again since you never know how foolish the voting public will be. People like him, who have been entrenched for decades, are the ones we need to get out most. Dodd is the "bad guy" to some extent, but he was simply following orders given to him by the Obama administration. They have proven themselves to be masters of scapegoating and they set him up nicely. For the final question, yes, it was winnable, but it was an uphill battle. I think he would have likely lost by a single digit margin, but if his opposition was weak enough he could have won.

Good riddance! Now if we can only get rid of the rest of the rubbish.