Dodd: 'I'm the underdog'

Josh Kraushaar, Manu Raju Thu Apr 2, 5:28 PM ET

Democrats in Connecticut and Washington closed ranks Thursday behind embattled Sen. Chris Dodd after the release of a stunning poll that showed the one-time presidential candidate has cratered in the wake of the AIG-bonus controversy.

The Quinnipiac poll showed Dodd trailing former GOP Rep. Rob Simmons by 16 points in a very blue state, and Democrats are growing increasingly nervous about the senator’s chances. With this poll, and the swirl of controversy surrounding Dodd and his ties to Wall Street, he has emerged as the most vulnerable Democratic senator in 2010.

“I’ll guess you’ll say I’m the underdog,” Dodd said Thursday. “Obviously I’d like to do better, it’s been a rough couple of weeks — sort of an understatement for me — polling in the midst of [that] could have sort of predictable results. But we’ll move on and do our job. And obviously, as the old saying goes, the poll that counts is the one in November 2010.”

Asked if there’s any chance of him not running next year, Dodd said: “No, I’m running. I’m running. OK?”

He added that no leaders in the Democratic Party have asked him to step aside.

Party leaders remain convinced that Dodd has hit his low water-mark with the AIG bonus controversy so fresh in voters’ minds, and they say his numbers are only bound to go back up once he begins campaigning in the state. Plus they hope that Simmons will face a bruising Senate primary between state Sen. Sam Caligiuri, which will be a boon to Dodd since he’s unlikely to face a primary challenger himself.

On Thursday, Democrats moved swiftly to tamp down dissent within their own party and make clear that Dodd was their candidate.

Connecticut Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo said the state party establishment is fully behind Dodd, and would never ask him to step down.

“The election is a long way away,” DiNardo said. “When the time comes, Sen. Dodd will be in the state campaigning. People will remember what he has done for the people of Connecticut, and what he continues to do serving the people.”

Rep. John M. Larson, a Connecticut Democrat in his sixth term and chairman of the Democratic Caucus, said “no one with a brain” thinks Dodd should step aside and allow a new Democrat to run instead. Larson said Dodd would rebound once he begins campaigning, adding that he plans to spend “quite a bit of my break” campaigning with Dodd over the two-week Easter recess.

And Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, remains firmly behind Dodd. The committee launched its first Web ad in the race on Thursday, portraying Simmons as beholden to special interests.

“It’s up to Sen. Dodd [on whether to retire]. There’s no indication that he’s willing to do that,” said one senior Democratic operative.

“We’re not going to have a Jim Bunning situation our hands,” the operative said, referring to the GOP leadership’s efforts to persuade the Kentucky Republican to retire.

Connecticut Democratic sources say some party activists have reached out to the state’s attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, to gauge his interest in running next year. But Blumenthal, eyeing a 2012 Senate bid and his own reelection in 2010, has resisted such entreaties, the sources say. After Blumenthal, the bench for Connecticut Democrats remains thin.

In an interview, Blumenthal said it’s been a “lifelong public service goal” to serve in the U.S. Senate, and said he would be interested in running if a vacancy emerged. But he said that he wants to run for reelection as attorney general next year, and will consider a bid against independent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman in 2012.

Dodd’s popularity began slipping back home when questions were raised last year about whether he focused too much on his failed 2008 presidential bid instead of running the Banking Committee at a time of economic malaise. His problems grew worse with allegations that he received what critics call a sweetheart mortgage deal from Countrywide and questions over his purchase of a cottage in Ireland.

Most recently, he was in the center of the controversy over AIG, when — at the request of the Treasury Department — Dodd revised language in the economic stimulus package, which essentially allowed the lavish bonuses for the bailed-out insurance giant to move forward .

And Republicans plan to use those mishaps against Dodd in 2010.

“Sen. Dodd’s reelection bid will be an uphill battle in the wake of the AIG bonus debacle, his sweetheart mortgage deal from Countrywide, revelations about his 10-acre ‘cottage’ in Ireland and his decision to move his family to Iowa during the presidential campaign,” said Amber Wilkerson, spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “Sen. Dodd is facing record-low approval ratings because voters in Connecticut are looking for a change, and we are confident that this race will be competitive in 2010.”