The Republican long knives are out for Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, whose favorability in the Nutmeg State has been dropping since he moved his family to Iowa as part of his quixotic presidential campaign...and Dodd's position as Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee during the financial crisis, coupled with his role in the Countrywide Financial controversy, have not helped Dodd in the slightest.
But if the GOP wants to take out the longest-serving Senator in Connecticut history, they're going to need to do a damned sight better than this:
Here at CPAC a well placed source with knowledge of the Republican Senate Committee plans tells me that Larry Kudlow is "considering" a Senate run against embattled Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd. Dodd’s approval ratings have been plummeting in light of the Friend of Angelo scandal and the ongoing effort to stonewall local and national media. Kudlow would bring instant name recognition and plenty of funding, but more importantly a wealth of economic knowledge.
Economic knowledge? Sure, if "knowledge" involves being routinely wrong on the most critical issues of the day, then Kudlow has it in spades. SSP's DavidNYC writes:
Larry Kudlow has a long track record of being wrong about just about everything. Just last week, for instance, he was addled enough to say of Obama's mortage plan that "the people who win here are Fannie and Freddie. The Americans who paid their taxes on time and their mortgages on time get hurt" - even though Fannie and Freddie are, of course, now owned by the US government.
Or ask Atrios about Kudlow's ever-predictable wrongitude:
Friday, October 08, 2004
+96K
That is a pretty crappy jobs number. Need about 150,000 per month just to keep up with the growth in the working age population.
...god, it's so predictable. Kudlow spends a week before the number comes out gloating over how great the jobs number is going to be, then he spends the day it comes out shrieking about how it doesn't matter.
What hacks.
Kudlow also has, as DavidNYC notes, a somewhat checkered past, and the party has a superior potential nominee on deck, anyway, in former Rep. Rob Simmons (Simmons won three elections in a D+7.6 district, which is pretty impressive).
Dodd might be in trouble, but let's hope it's the rather hilarious Kudlow who faces off against him, as opposed to Simmons. It will make for a much happier Election Day 2010.
Update: And Kudlow confirms he's interested:
Kudlow confirmed his interest in an interview with POLITICO this afternoon and said he was talking to strategists to assess the feasibility of a statewide run. He said NRSC chairman John Cornyn met with him over dinner last week to discuss the idea, and the two have since had a follow-up phone conversation.
"He came up to me, and put it right on the table. He seems to think it would be a good race, and a national race," Kudlow said.