Room For One More? Schiff Leaning Toward Challenging For CT-Sen

According to this report at The Plum Line, Peter Schiff is more likely than not to jump into the race for senate in Connecticut.

Peter Schiff, a Connecticut-based brokerage firm owner who has been widely hailed for predicting the U.S. financial meltdown, says he's "leaning towards" challenging Chris Dodd's reelection next year, a move that could make the contest a nationally watched media event.

"It's better than 50-50," Schiff told me a few moments ago, saying he'd decide in the next "two to three weeks."

This is the first time I have heard Schiff himself talk like that about a run. Most of the noise so far has been from the group at Schiff2010, who have been working hard to convince their guy to run. They have done some significant fundraising, though money would not likely be the biggest problem Schiff would face. According to their site, they have over 5500 donors, and presumably more than a handful of them are from Connecticut.

I am still not convinced a politician in the mold of Ron Paul can be successful in Connecticut, even when running against a seriously wounded Chris Dodd, but it wouldn't be the first time I was wrong. And I think it would be fun to watch Schiff dismember Dodd in a debate on all-things economic.

Off The Wire: More Reasons To Vote Dodd Out

I've been pretty sick with the flu (guess that flu shot wasn't all it's cracked up to be) since Wednesday, but I am trying to keep on top of things. Who would have known when I started this blog the day after the election that Dodd would provide so much material?

Anyway, a few items that caught my interest in the few minutes I was conscious over the past two days:

- Schiff's money-bomb is off and running today. As of 2:55 EST, they stand at $9,348, rapidly approaching their goal of $10k. The Courant has an article about Schiff today, and he answers a question some have asked, namely whether Schiff would run as a Republican, Libertarian or Independent.

If he were to run for Senate, Schiff said he would run as a Republican. "If I wanted to and put int the effort, I could probably get the Republican nomination, but I don't know if I want to," he said.

But what would be the point? "I don't need the power, the fame ... or the money," Schiff said. "I don't need those things. If I really thought I could make a difference, might I be willing to change careers? I might ... but there needs to be a bigger movement, there needs to be more candidates."

Seems a little presumptuous to just assume he would win the Republican nomination, especially if Simmons is in. We'll see.

- The Wall Street Journal takes a few shots at AG Blumenthal for his slobbering support of Dodd and statement that Dodd has done nothing wrong. As the piece points out:

It's interesting that the state's top lawyer can pronounce that there's no evidence of wrongdoing by Mr. Dodd, especially since Mr. Blumenthal told us this week that he has never investigated Dodd's Countrywide deals.

[snip]

Mr. Blumenthal's decision to stay out of the way of federal law enforcers contrasts with his approach when Republican Governor John Rowland and others were successfully prosecuted on federal corruption charges. In that case, Mr. Blumenthal was so zealous that in 2004 a state court judge temporarily blocked his civil suit after federal prosecutors claimed he was making it more difficult to prosecute the federal case.

It's not exactly comparing apples to apples, but the contrast is striking. Of course, Blumenthal had nothing to gain from backing Rowland, while he would need Dodd's support in 2012 were he to challenge Lieberman for his seat. The Everyday Republican's take can be found here.

- Chris Dodd has gotten to someone at the Kansas City Tribune (where's this level of outrage in the CT media?) with his accepting huge campaign contributions from the banking industry and then giving them a 258,000% return on their donations. A taste:

In my weeks of research into understanding how America went from economic lynchpin to a wayward ship drifting on a sea of economic trouble, I find myself baffled and appalled by statements from Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

His anger seems real enough. But the stench of hypocrisy reeks up the room every time he forgets to mention the hundreds of thousands of dollars he received in 2008 as campaign donations from these same banks, their management and employees - currently not under receivership of the U.S. taxpayer.

Read the whole thing.

- Finally, I never posted on Time's list of the 25 people to blame for the financial crisis (and I won't link to it, since it is a joke for not including Dodd and Frank; find it yourself). But Jack Dunphy, a frequent guest-contributer at Patterico's Pontifications, has. Read that post, and while you are there, bookmark the site. Good stuff on a regular basis.

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.