With the announced retirement of Chris Dodd, the long-serving Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal, is finally getting his shot at the Senate seat. One big problem Dodd has was his polling numbers had tanked in the state. In November, his disapproval rating was 54%, that's toxic for an incumbent. James L. at Swing State Project put it like this:
Unlike Byron Dorgan's tragic retirement decision in North Dakota, Dodd is actually taking one for the team here. Dodd's well-documented baggage proved to be a tremendous burden for him in every poll we've seen of his re-election bid this year.Yep. The Republicans have already started attacking Blumenthal, but he's got a solid record in Connecticut. Plus, the GOPers now have to worry about the knock-down battle underway for their party's nomination between former Congressman Rob Simmons and the former CEO of the World Wrestling Entertainment Linda McMahon. The primary in Connecticut is on August 10th, so that could end up being fun to watch.
A politico in Connecticut told me that Blumenthal is "squeaky clean." And, the people of the state like him, based on Quinnipiac's polling, he had a 78% approval rating from Connecticut voters -- and that includes 70% approval from Republicans. Those numbers have been consistent for the past year, too. :
