Embattled Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut called it quits on his 30-year Senate career yesterday — acknowledging he was in the “toughest political shape of my career” after a bruising year.
The move deals a blow to Democrats, who got battered by three high-profile retirement announcements within a span of hours — but also frees the party of a sagging candidate who had become dead weight in a harsh election year.
Dodd, 65, had been singed by controversy in recent years — including the revelation that he participated in a special “VIP” loan program by Countrywide Financial and played a role in the AIG bonus scandal by inserting a legislative provision to protect last year’s bonuses.
He also lost favor with many voters in Connecticut when he moved his family to Iowa for his ill-fated run for the 2008 presidential nomination, winning less than 1 percent in the caucuses.
“The writing was on the wall. He knew it,” said a Democratic leadership aide, who said Dodd’s withdrawal would improve the party’s prospects of keeping the seat.
State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, a popular longtime official, announced he would run for the seat, giving Democrats a strong contender.
The white-maned Dodd, who was elected to the Senate in 1980 and was viewed as this year’s most endangered Democratic incumbent, said he decided to bow out on Christmas Eve — ending a frustrating period where was battered by ethics charges and fought prostate cancer.
“I lost a beloved sister in July, and in August, Ted Kennedy. I battled cancer in the summer and in the midst of all of this I found myself in the toughest political shape of my career,” Dodd told supporters outside his home in East Haddam.
“Now let me be clear: I’m very aware of my present political standing at home in Connecticut. But it is equally clear that any certain prediction of an election victory or defeat nearly a year from now would be absurd.”
A field of Republicans had already been running hard. Former Rep. Rob Simmons led Dodd by 11 points in November’s Quinnipiac poll. Linda McMahon, the World Wrestling Entertainment CEO, has been pouring money into TV ads and was also climbing in the polls.
Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said he reached his decision after voting for the health-care bill that has become a political burden to some Democrats.
Afterwards, he said, he visited the grave at Arlington National Cemetery of his friend Kennedy.
“None of these events and circumstances, either individually or collectively, is the cause of my decision not to seek re-election,” he said.
Dodd said there was “nothing more pathetic” than politicians who announce they are leaving office to spend more time with their family — but said he hopes he will get the chance to spend time with daughters Grace, 8, and Christina, 4.
In an ominous sign for Democrats in November, Dodd’s announcement came just a day after two other top party figures, Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, announced their own retirements.
President Obama issued a statement praising Dodd.
Unlike in the case of Gov. Paterson, where Obama has tried to push an endangered incumbent aside, aides say Dodd didn’t need to get a strong shove.