Asleep at the Switch: Dodd's Frivolous Campaign for President and His Move to Iowa
In 2007 and 2008, as the housing market collapsed and economic storm clouds gathered in the horizon, Dodd decided he had better things to do than attend to his duties as Connecticut's senior Senator and the Senate's chief financial industry watchdog. Dodd instead launched a frivolous bid for the White House, and in October 2007 he moved himself and his family to a home in Des Moines to campaign for the Iowa Caucuses.
Senate records show Dodd visited Connecticut just two times in 2007.
In the end, the move from Connecticut to Iowa didn't work out quite as well as Dodd had hoped. Dodd finished sixth in the Iowa Caucuses with less than 1% of the vote.
Dodd moved to Iowa to run for President.
“Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd will have a new pitch to Iowans: Vote for a neighbor. The Connecticut senator has rented a house in Des Moines, where he and his family will live until the caucuses in January. Dodd and his wife, Jackie Clegg Dodd, have two daughters, 6-year-old Grace and 2-year-old Christina.” (The Associated Press, 10/19/07)
As he pursued his frivolous Presidential campaign, Dodd's oversight of the financial sector suffered.
“Dodd has also struggled to keep up with his House counterpart, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), whose workaholic tendencies and talent for sound bites have kept his House Financial Services Committee front and center. During his presidential bid, Dodd was largely absent from his committee post — just as the subprime crisis gathered steam.” (Politico, 3/4/09)
Voters back home did not take kindly to Dodd's frivolous campaigning in Iowa.
“Voters in Chris Dodd’s home state of Connecticut said in a new poll that he is spending too much time on the campaign trail and not enough time being a senator from Connecticut. Dodd and his family moved to Des Moines this fall, and he recently enrolled his oldest daughter, Grace, in kindergarten in the Des Moines public school system. They plan to stay until after the caucuses. Fifty-five percent of Connecticut registered voters polled from Nov. 1 to 5 said Dodd, a Democrat, was spending too much time running for president and not enough time being a senator. The poll also said that 70 percent of Connecticut voters surveyed said it’s time for Dodd to drop out of the presidential race; 68 percent of Democrats agreed with that statement.” (Des Moines Register, 11/10/07)
