Thursday, February 19, 2009

Schiff Supporters Talking Up Saturday's "Moneybomb"

The New Haven Independent, via Instapundit, has a lengthy article on Saturday's fundraising blitz for Peter Schiff organized by the Political Exploration and Awareness Committee PAC (PEAC). Their goal is to raise at least $10,000, but Schiff has indicated that a senate run is a long shot.

From the NHI, which also has an embedded FoxNews interview with Schiff:
Judging from a conversation with Schiff Wednesday, it will take much more than [$10,000] to convince him to step away from his Darien stock brokerage and hit the hustings as a Republican challenger to Chris Dodd.

He does warm up - instantly - to the subject of why he feels Chris Dodd should be handed a forced retirement from the U.S. Senate.

"Dodd has a role in creating a problem. He's not playing a part in the solution," said Schiff, who's 45. "He was one of the biggest promoters of Fannie[Mae] and Freddie [Mac]. He's one of the reasons efforts to rein them in was curtailed. The reason we're in such a mess is the lax lending standards and moral standards that were a result of Fannie and Freddie. Dodd has his fingerprints all over this."

[snip]

"I'm not running for anything. They're hoping if they can raise a lot of money and start an organization, they can convince me and draft me into a senate campaign. I think it is a longshot," he said. "Is it impossible? Nothing is impossible. Is there a slim chance? The odds are I'm not going to do it. It's just not something I think is the best use of my time. Even if I could become a senator, I don't know what the hell I could do! I would be one guy out of a hundred."

So if you believe Schiff, he is not likely to run, but he certainly left the door open wide enough to change his mind and throw his hat in the ring. The bigger question is whether he would run in a primary against another Republican candidate, or would he go the third-party route? A libertarian third party candidate might be enough to really screw things up for a more moderate Dodd challenger, like Simmons.

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