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The latest Quinnipiac Poll continues to be favorable for Rob Simmons.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd continues to lag behind Republican rival Rob Simmons, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this morning.

Dodd, who has served in the Senate for close to 30 years, trails Simmons, 45 percent to 39 percent, the poll found.

However, those numbers are an improvement over the 50 to 34 percent advantage Simmons held in the last Quinnipiac poll, which was released in early April, on the heels of the AIG bonus controversy.

Dodd appears to have “stopped the bleeding,” Quinnipiac poll director Doug Schwartz said in a press release accompanying the poll results. Connecticut voters disapprove, 53 to 38, percent of the job the Democratic incumbent is doing, a gain over the 58 to 33 percent margin in the April 2, his lowest approval rating ever.

Dodd may have stopped the bleeding until the ads start to run and Connecticut voters are reminded of all of the sleazy deals with which Dodd is associated.

Flap wonders what kind of payback Joe Lieberman will exact during the campaign?

Incumbent, long time Connecticut Democrat Senator Chris Dodd is behind by 16 points to Republican Rob Simmons in the latest Quinnipiac poll.

A new Quinnipiac poll shows Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) now trailing former Rep. Rob Simmons (R-CT), 50% to 34%, in the 2010 Senate race.

In two other match ups, Dodd trails both Sam Caligiuri (R), 41% to 37%, and loses to Tom Foley (R), 43% to 35%.

Key finding: Voters disapprove 58% to 33% of the job the Democratic incumbent is doing, his lowest approval rating ever.

Said pollster Douglas Schwartz: “A 33% job approval is unheard of for a 30-year incumbent, especially a Democrat in a blue state… Dodd’s numbers among Democrats are especially devastating.”

Exit questions: Will the Connecticut Democrat Party force Chris Dodd out before primary season? Ned Lamont?

This revelation certainly will NOT help Senator Chris Dodd, U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chairman in the polls back home in Connecticut as his re-election campaign begins.

No wonder Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn) went wobbly last week when asked about his February amendment ratifying hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to executives at insurance giant AIG. Dodd has been one of the company’s favorite recipients of campaign contributions. But it turns out that Senator Dodd’s wife has also benefited from past connections to AIG as well.

From 2001-2004, Jackie Clegg Dodd served as an “outside” director of IPC Holdings, Ltd., a Bermuda-based company controlled by AIG. IPC, which provides property casualty catastrophe insurance coverage, was formed in 1993 and currently has a market cap of $1.4 billion and trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol IPCR. In 2001, in addition to a public offering of 15 million shares of stock that raised $380 million, IPC raised more than $109 million through a simultaneous private placement sale of 5.6 million shares of stock to AIG – giving AIG a 20% stake in IPC. (AIG sold its 13.397 million shares in IPC in August, 2006.)

Clegg was compensated for her duties to the company, which was managed by a subsidiary of AIG. In 2003, according to a proxy statement, Clegg received $12,000 per year and an additional $1,000 for each Directors’ and committee meeting she attended. Clegg served on the Audit and Investment committees during her final year on the board.

IPC paid millions each year to other AIG-related companies for administrative and other services. Clegg was a diligent director. In 2003, the proxy statement report, she attended more than 75% of board and committee meetings. This while she served as the managing partner of Clegg International Consultants, LLC, which she created in 2001, the year she joined the board of IPC. (See Dodd’s public financial disclosure reports with the Senate from 2001-2004 here.)

But, look at this chart of her further business dealings as the wife of a powerful United States Senator.

There will be lots of ‘plaining to do by the Senator and his wife regarding their personal and professional relationships with numerous concerns, including the failed AIG, doing business with the federal government.

And, Senator Dodd thought that his Countrywide Financial political loan scandal was his ONLY problem.

Senator Chris Dodd and President Obama have received $ hundreds of thousands in political contributions from AIG and other financial sector firms.

Fancy that.

Now, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Dodd are involved in a CIRCULAR FIRING SQUAD as each take pot shots at each other casting blame over the AIG Bonus fiasco. In the meantime, Senator Dodd is cratering in re-election polls in Connecticut and some members of the GOP are calling for Geithner’s resignation.

But, the entire FLAP really is a smokescreen for MORE government spending.

Kabuki theater indeed.

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The Day By Day Archive

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Michelle is RIGHT about referring to the passage of the House Bill today exacting 90 per cent taxes on AIG and other companies who enjoy government bailouts employee bonuses as Kabuki Theater.

Denouncing a “squandering of the people’s money,” lawmakers voted decisively Thursday to impose a 90 percent tax on millions of dollars in employee bonuses paid by troubled insurance giant AIG and other bailed-out companies.

In some cases the bonuses might be taxed 100 percent leaving the recipients with nothing.

The House vote was 328-93. Similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate and President Barack Obama quickly signaled general support for the concept.

“I look forward to receiving a final product that will serve as a strong signal to the executives who run these firms that such compensation will not be tolerated,” the president said in a statement.

“We want our money back now for the taxpayers,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “It isn’t that complicated.”

Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat, chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said he expected local and state governments to take the remaining 10 percent of the bonuses, nullifying the pay-outs.

The bonuses are outrageous but it was President Obama who signed the economic stimulus bill that allowed them – whether he knew or understood they were in the bill. And, it was Timothy Geithner’s Treasury Department that asked Senator Chris Dodd to insert a provision in last month’s $787 billion economic- stimulus legislation that had the effect of authorizing American International Group Inc.’s bonuses.

But, the Kabuki Theater comes from Flap’s own Congressman, Elton Gallegly and the fact this TAX AS A WEAPON legislation is a BILL of ATTAINDER which is prohibited by the U.S. Constitution.

From Congressman Gallegly’s Press Release:

“As a person with a lifetime record of opposing tax increases, today I voted for a bill to tax bonuses awarded to executives who received federal bailout money. It was the least the House could do to reclaim hard-earned taxpayer money from Wall Street firms who insult American taxpayers by rewarding those responsible for our economic crisis.

“It’s not the bill I would have preferred. I wanted to vote for the Republican alternative that would have recouped 100 percent of the bonuses. It would have done so by denying future federal funds to any company who did not recoup bonuses paid out under previous bailouts. It also would have required Treasury Department approval before companies could give future bonuses. I believe the bill would have been more effective and would have passed constitutional muster.

“Unfortunately, my Democratic colleagues—who stripped language banning bonuses from the stimulus bill and therefore allowed these payments—did not give members an opportunity to vote on the better bill.

“Right now, this was the only bill available to prevent AIG and other companies who receive bailout money to know of my outrage at giving outlandish bonuses to executives who failed the American people. These companies must get the message that the American people will no longer tolerate this behavior. Therefore, I voted for this bill.

“I look forward to working with my Democratic colleagues to pass meaningful legislation that will fix this loophole.”

The AIG bonus bill is a JOKE. The Democrats are blaming Bush and everyone knows the REAL culprits are Timothy Geithner, Chris Dodd and Barack Obama.

The Democrats are running for cover and Flap’s Representative should have voted NO today and for any additional federal government bailouts PERIOD.

Senator Chris Dodd will be in a tough race for re-election.

Former Rep. Rob Simmons will challenge embattled Sen. Chris Dodd next November, a recruiting success for national Republicans who believe that the Connecticut Democrat has badly imperiled his chances at reelection over the last several years.

“The family had a long meeting today and was unanimous that I run,” Simmons e-mailed the Associated Press on Sunday. “So, I’m running.” Simmons added that a recent Quinnipiac University poll showing him in a dead heat with Dodd had helped close the deal for him.

Republicans were quick to tout Simmons’s candidacy as evidence that the party was on its way back after a series of devastating losses in 2006 and 2008.

“Connecticut represents a tremendous opportunity for Republicans in 2010, particularly when you have an experienced and respected candidate like Rob Simmons already polling ahead of a 30 year incumbent,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee communications director Brian Walsh.

Well, perhaps.

The polls are now favorable but the Democrats will Bush blast Simmons. On the other hand, have Dodd’s political opportunism and favorable personal loans with Countrywide mortage already sunk him?

Yes, he is.

Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd continues to struggle in the eyes of Connecticut voters with a new poll showing the five-term incumbent in a statistical dead heat with his likely Republican challenger.

The survey, conducted by Quinnipiac University, shows former Rep. Rob Simmons (R) taking 43 percent of the vote to Dodd’s 42 percent in a hypothetical 2010 matchup — a danger zone for any incumbent, particularly a Democrat in a state as blue as Connecticut.

Inside the numbers, the prognosis isn’t much better. Simmons is winning the support of 15 percent of self-identified Democrats in the poll and independents are siding with the former Republican House member by a whopping 49 percent to 32 percent.

Dodd’s personal favorability ratings are also languishing with 46 percent expressing a favorable opinion about him and 45 percent feeling unfavorably. Compare those middling numbers to Dodd’s showing in Q polls from May 2007 (45 percent fav/31 percent unfav) and February 2007 (49 percent fav/30 percent unfav) and you see just how badly he has been hurt by his ties to the troubled mortgage lender Countrywide and his quixotic presidential bid.

The re-emergence of the national Republican Party may come in unanticipated places, like solidly blue states such as Connecticutt and perhaps New York.

But, corruption has sunk Chris Dodd and the GOP needs to exploit this pick up opportunity.