Well the work on financial reform in the Senate was going to begin in earnest now that health care was done… and the New Year is bringing currents and calculations…
Washington is an interesting place… what happens in public is not always the same as what happens in private…
From Bloomberg…
~~~ “Senator Christopher Dodd, a five-term Connecticut Democrat trailing in the polls, will not run for re-election in November, according to a Congressional aide familiar with the matter.
Dodd, 65, will hold a press conference today to announce his decision, the aide said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Dodd spokeswoman Justine Sessionswas unavailable for comment. The Washington Post reported the retirement plan earlier.
As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Dodd has a leading role in crafting an overhaul of U.S. financial rules and last month supported Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke for a second term. He is also a top Senate negotiator on legislation that would expand U.S. health-care coverage.
Dodd’s announcement would come a day after North Dakota Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan said he won’t seek re-election. The party is bidding to maintain its control of 60 votes in the 100-member chamber to cut off stalling tactics that can be used to thwart legislation.
A Nov. 3-8 Quinnipiac University survey showed Dodd trailing former Connecticut Republican Congressman Rob Simmons by 11 percentage points in a hypothetical contest for the November Senate race. The poll of 1,236 registered Connecticut voters had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
Home Loan
Dodd’s popularity waned after Portfolio magazine reported in 2008 that he and Senator Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, received discounts on home loans from Countrywide Financial Corp., now part of Bank of America Corp.Both senators said they were unaware they were receiving preferential treatment.
Dodd made a failed bid for his party’s nomination in the 2008 presidential election, moving his family to Iowa, where the first balloting was held.
Dodd didn’t offer support last month for a proposal by Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, and Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, to reinstate the Depression-era Glass- Steagall Act that split commercial and investment banking. The plan, which would require New York-based JPMorganto split from Chase and would require Bank of America and Merrill Lynch & Co. to separate, was proposed to rein in Wall Street firms in response to the financial crisis.
Glass-Steagall
“There are other things we can do to break them up, but I’m not sure that’s the right answer,” Dodd said in a Dec. 16 interview.
During his last re-election contest in 2004, Dodd counted employees of Bear Stearns Cos. and Citigroup Inc. as his top donors, according to the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political donations. For his 2008 presidential bid, executives at the hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors LP, based in Stamford, Connecticut, were Dodd’s biggest backers, donating a combined $248,200, according to the center’s figures.
Dodd served in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic in the 1960s and is a fluent Spanish speaker. His father, the late Thomas Dodd, was also a Connecticut senator.