Conn. attorney general says he’s running for Dodd’s seat to fight scams, special interests

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Conn. AG running for fellow Democrat Dodd’s seat

HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal says he decided to seek the U.S. Senate seat of fellow Democrat Chris Dodd so he could fight against scams and special interests.

Blumenthal announced his decision to run Wednesday at Democratic headquarters in Hartford, just hours after Dodd announced that he would not be seeking a sixth term in November.

Dodd has been dogged by lagging poll numbers for months.

Blumenthal has been Connecticut’s attorney general since 1990. He has gained a national profile by challenging Big Tobacco and its alleged marketing to children and the Web site Craigslist and its erotic ads that he said promote prostitution.

Recent polls show the 63-year-old Blumenthal is one of the most popular politicians in Connecticut.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

EAST HADDAM, Conn. (AP) — Christopher Dodd, saying he was in “the toughest political shape” of his career, announced Wednesday he will retire from the U.S. Senate, ending a four-decade career in Congress.

Dodd, speaking outside his home in East Haddam, said he would not run for a sixth term.

His political stock fell after a controversy involving low-rate mortgages he received under a VIP program, the financial meltdown and his failed 2008 presidential bid. The 65-year-old chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, who also served three terms in the House, was trailing former Republican Congressman Rob Simmons in the polls.

He acknowledged that 2009 was a tough year for him.

“I lost a beloved sister in July and, in August, Ted Kennedy. I battled cancer over the summer, and in the midst of all of this, found myself in the toughest political shape of my career,” he said.

Connecticut’s popular Democratic attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, is set to officially announce Wednesday afternoon that he will run for Dodd’s seat. Blumenthal, 63, has been attorney general since 1990, but said he has had his eye on the Senate for years.

“The United States Senate has been a longtime public service goal, and I would be proud and honored to have the opportunity to serve the people of Connecticut … in the Senate,” Blumenthal told The Associated Press on Wednesday before his announcement.

Dodd’s banking committee was at the center of efforts to deal with the economic meltdown. And Dodd has played a prominent role in the debate over overhauling health care, taking over for Kennedy during his illness and then after his death.

Some of the home-state backlash came when, during his presidential bid, Dodd moved his family to Iowa several weeks before the caucuses there.

The mortgage controversy dogged him for several months. The Senate ethics panel cleared him of breaking rules by getting the Countrywide mortgages, but scolded him for not doing more to avoid the appearance of sweetheart deals. Dodd insisted the mortgage rates he received were available to other consumers with good credit.

The controversy faintly recalled the troubles that brought down his late father, former Sen. Thomas J. Dodd, who was censured by his colleagues in 1967 for using campaign money to pay personal bills. Thomas Dodd served two terms in the Senate.

“You have honored me beyond words with your confidence,” Dodd said. “Let me quickly add that there have been times when my positions and actions have caused some of you to question that confidence. I regret that.”

Dodd led his primary challenger, businessman and former Air Force officer Merrick Alpert, in the polls, but those surveys suggested his Republican challengers stood a chance of knocking him off in the November election.

“He really was not able to budge his low honesty and trustworthy number and that’s something really hard for an elected official to change,” Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz said. “Once people don’t trust you, it’s a tough thing to turn around.”

Dodd said he was “very aware of my present political standing here at home, but it is equally clear that any certain prediction about an election victory or defeat nearly a year from now would be absurd.”

A spokesman for Dodd said the senator spoke with President Barack Obama before making Wednesday’s announcement. Details on what was said weren’t released. Dodd didn’t take questions at his news conference.

Obama said in a statement that Dodd’s work isn’t finished, but that his leadership would be missed.

“He has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of our children and families, support good jobs for hardworking Americans, and keep our nation strong and prosperous,” Obama said.

The three Republicans running for Dodd’s seat said his decision to drop out of the race won’t hurt their chances.

“Whoever the Democratic nominee is, he or she will have to defend the failed Democratic policies of higher taxes, bigger government, exploding debt and a misguided approach to national security,” Simmons said.

Republican candidate Linda McMahon, the former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, said Dodd’s leaving the race doesn’t change anything for her.

The third GOP candidate, Peter Schiff, said Blumenthal’s ideology is so similar to Dodd’s that it will harm the attorney general in the race.

“He praised Chris Dodd for his services to the state and all the great things he’s supposedly done, which obviously shows me he doesn’t understand Chris Dodd’s role in bringing about the economic conditions that are so dire,” Schiff said.

With Blumenthal as the candidate, Democrats have the edge, Schwartz said. His lowest job approval number since 2001 was 71 percent in November 2004. His highest was 81 percent in March 2009.

“It’s not over, but certainly the Democrats are in much better shape,” Schwartz said. “The race has flipped from leaning Republican to leaning Democrat.”

Howard Reiter, a University of Connecticut political science professor emeritus, said Blumenthal starts out in a strong position, but “I don’t think he’s had a tough campaign in a long time.”

Blumenthal, a former Marine who lives in Greenwich with his wife and four children, is a former federal prosecutor and former state legislator.

AP writers Liz Sidoti and Andrew Miga in Washington, D.C., and Susan Haigh and Dave Collins in Hartford, Conn., contributed to this report.