A Silver Lining

Well the best thing to be said about Chris Dodd's ignominious defeat in the Iowa caucus is that the state of Connecticut gets a Senator back. He'll have plenty of time after he's scurried back home with his tail between his legs and when the Senate reconvenes on Jan. 22 to unpack his belongings and move back into the job the people of Connecticut elected him to do.

Of course, you can't blame Dodd for being ambitious and wanting to run for the White House -- I suppose it's the dream of everyone who gets into politics. And I do give him credit for accepting reality and getting out (relatively) early. (Then again, if there's a lot of speculation that you couldn't even win in your home state, then maybe you shouldn't have run at all. . . .)

Over at Connecticut Local Politics, they do a great job of dissecting Dodd's demise, noting that it wasn't just one thing that doomed the campaign, but a confluence of factors, not the least of which was his lack of being able to distinguish himself from the pack.

Well, now that his fantasy has been dismissed and his ego deflated, there's a good chance that Dodd will now rededicate himself to the citizens of Connecticut, some of whom were put off by his relocating to Iowa as well as the entire run itself. Let's hope his loss now makes for our gain.