Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Off The Wire: Kudlow, Foley, Dodd and Jackie

As noted late last night, Larry Kudlow has announced he has no intention of campaigning for Dodd's seat in 2010. While some are disappointed, I think he would have had a harder time beating Dodd than Simmons would. Now, we'll never know. Coverage at Newsbusters, the Courant's Capitol Watch, the New York Times, and Huffington Post (with video).

With Kudlow out, Connecticut Local Politics points to a Stamford Advocate article that indicates that former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland is still considering a run. He acknowledges his name recognition isn't much better than mine, but seems to think it is a hurdle that could be overcome without too much trouble. While I concede it wouldn't be insurmountable, starting that far behind Simmons, whose last district covered almost half the state, is a very substantial disadvantage in a primary. Granted, he's got sixteen months before the primary, but Simmons has a running start on him.

Speaking of Ireland, Brian Faughnan at RedState has a post on Dodd's Irish cottage:
Here's the quick-and-dirty: find a convicted felon and get him to put up two-thirds of the purchase price, then 8 years later - when the value of comparable real estate has quadrupled - buy him out at around the same amount he bought in for.

Voila! Before you know it, you own an Irish 'cottage' worth about a million dollars, but whose value you claim on ethics forms is as little as $100,000!
To be fair, Dodd bought the DC townhouse with the felon, and the Irish cottage with the felon's friend. I know, it is hard to keep them all straight...

Faughnan also chimed in on the 2010 races in the Northeast that the GOP is optimistic about, as well as Jackie's history with AIG. HuffPo covers Dodd's indignant response to the questions raised about his wife's AIG ties, but I think with all of his ethical lapses, he has lost any right he once had to get upset about anyone questioning anything about him (or his wife, if there are potential problems). As I said before, I don't think this is actually a big deal, but he has lied and stonewalled about his other problems, so you'd be an idiot to take his word for anything at this point.

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