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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TideGlider who wrote (77156)	1/6/2010 7:58:22 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	2 Recommendations Respond to of 224718

Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and a Democratic Party stalwart in the Senate, is set to announce today that he will not seek re-election this year, according to a party strategist familiar with his plans. Sen. Dodd's decision was the latest in a string of big-name Democratic retirements revealed Tuesday as the party struggles to contend with a challenging political climate. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota said he, too, would retire after this year, unexpectedly saddling his fellow Democrats with a wide-open race that could be tough to win in a Republican-leaning state. And Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, viewed as a rising Democratic star after a 2006 election victory that laid the groundwork for a Democratic pickup there in the 2008 presidential race, will announce today that he will bow out rather than seek re-election. Another setback came in Michigan, where the Democratic front-runner for governor, Lt. Gov. John Cherry, announced that he would not run after all. Mr. Cherry, strategists believe, was too closely associated with the state's unpopular Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who is blamed by many voters for a jobless rate that is far higher than the national average. The departure of Sen. Dodd, first elected to the Senate in 1980, carried the most symbolic value because of his seniority and his close association with the financial system bailout and other economic policies. He has drawn criticism for backing a measure that allowed the embattled insurance giant AIG to dole out bonuses to its executives. Dodd, once closely associated with the insurance and hedge-fund industry, is one of the highest profile Democratic casualties of the financial crisis and its political fallout. Under fire for receiving what some charged was a sweetheart mortgage from Countrywide Financial, and for land deals in Ireland, Sen. Dodd had tried to reinvent himself as a populist, going after big banks and credit-card companies from his perch as chairman of the Senate banking committee.

To: TideGlider who wrote (77156)	1/6/2010 8:19:11 AM
From: FJB	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224718

It is up to four. Top Democrats head for the exits By MANU RAJU & JOSH KRAUSHAAR \| 1/6/10 4:17 AM EST The grim outlook for Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections just got a little worse. Four top Democrats—including veteran Sens. Chris Dodd and Byron Dorgan—all prepared to pull the plug on their campaigns in a 24-hour period that began Tuesday, and in the process, offered an unnerving glimpse at the perilous election year ahead. politico.com