| Dodd vs. Rob Simmons | 39-49 |
| Dodd vs. Tom Foley | 40-43 |
| Dodd vs. Sam Caligiuri | 43-40 |
| Dodd vs. Peter Schiff | 42-40 |
We see Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd trailing Republican former Rep. Rob Simmons by 10 points and stuck in statistical dead heats with the other three Republicans tested. Further, the poll put Senator Dodd’s favorable-unfavorable at a dispiriting 40-59.
The numbers look bad but the situation is very far from bleak. Why? Senator Dodd’s weak poll numbers are predicated on two controversies that have, over the summer, been entirely defused. Granted, the political damage has been done – but Senator Dodd can undo it. How? I think a good first step would be to submit an op-ed piece to every daily paper in Connecticut, from the Hartford Courant to the Connecticut Post to the Stamford Advocate to the New Haven Register and more, to the following effect:
Addressing Concerns and Looking Ahead
A hypothetical op-ed by Senator Christopher DoddMy fellow Nutmeggers,As a state and as a nation, we face many critical challenges in the months and years ahead, from stabilizing our economy to making health care more accessible and affordable to slowing and reversing climate change to addressing foreign policy concerns abroad. In the U.S. Senate, I am working hard with my colleagues to address these many national challenges.
In the meantime, I wanted to take a moment to address concerns you make have and clarify misinformation that may exist about my personal background and my record.
First, headlines were made when allegations arose that I received preferential treatment when I re-financed my mortgage. I immediately denied such allegations and I released my mortgage documents to investigators for their review. After a thorough examination of my records and testimony from a number of people, the Senate Ethics Committee agreed that I did absolutely nothing illegal or unethical to obtain any kind of special rate on my mortgage. Heck, I didn’t even get the best rate that my mortgage provider offered. The Hartford Courant’s editorial board wrote:
The senator and his wife, Jackie Clegg Dodd, negotiated interest rates and terms widely available in the marketplace when they refinanced the two homes. That’s not special treatment.
While this distraction regarding my mortgage has been unfortunate, it has not taken my focus off of the real mortgage crises in Connecticut and across the country, from curtailing predatory lending practices to helping families across the economic spectrum avoid falling into foreclosure.
Second, misinformation spread quickly regarding my role in working to prevent companies receiving public funds from doling out massive and undeserved bonuses. The truth of the matter is quite simple, that I wrote and advocated for a legislative amendment that would have placed limitations on executive compensation to all companies receiving “bail-out” money, including AIG – and those limitations would have applied to executive bonuses, as well. I strenuously objected when Treasury officials pushed for language that would have applied limitations only to future bonuses, not existing bonus agreements that allowed AIG executives and others to receive large and undeserved bonuses while relying on federal bail-out dollars.
Over the last several years, the Bush Administration fostered an economic climate that facilitated the emergence of the modern-day robber baron, personified in these exorbitant bonuses paid out to executives of companies losing billions of dollars and effectively relying on welfare from our federal government. I have fought on behalf of Connecticut’s families and workforce to level the playing field. That’s why consumer watchdog groups applauded my recent decision to remain as Chairman of the U.S. Senate’s committee overseeing banking. I have fought to protect consumers – to protect our families – from unfair and unethical practices by some private sector institutions. That’s why I took a leadership role in fighting successfully to reform credit card companies’ practices earlier this year.
Having addressed these concerns you may have about my personal background and my record, I want to share with you the concerns I will be working to address in the months ahead. During 2009, I have been working closely with President Obama and my fellow Senators to achieve real health care reform, and we have made more progress than any Congress in over forty years. I expect that President Obama will have health care reform legislation on his desk, ready for his signature by Thanksgiving. I also expect to work closely with President Obama on legislation regarding achieving a sensible energy policy that reduces our dependence on fossil fuels and increases use of renewable energies.
As we approach Election Day next year, I very much look forward to debating my eventual Republican opponent. I expect that we will have a vigorous conversation outlining our differences. The principles I will be working with President Obama to fight for – expanding opportunities for our workforce and creating jobs, making healthcare more afforable, and making America more energy independent – will stand in stark contrast with the principles of my eventual Republican opponent that would take us back to the economic policies and foreign policy of George W. Bush.
I look forward to continuing this conversation with you in the months and years ahead, and I encourage you to contact my offices in Hartford or in Washington D.C. if I can ever be of service to you.
Senator Dodd cannot let the political damage of these (not-really-)controversies linger and set in. He needs to, in a decisive manner, set the record straight. An op-ed piece in newspapers across Connecticut, clearly addressing these issues head-on would do just that, clearing up misinformation and getting his poll numbers back on track.
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