Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)

U.S. Senate office    March 3, 2003 Statement

Updated March 3, 2003 


Chris Dodd was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1980, after serving three terms in the House.  During the 18-month period of Democratic control of the Senate from June 2001 to Dec. 2002 he chaired the Rules and Administration Committee.  In 1994 Dodd finished one vote behind Tom Daschle in the race to become Senate Democratic leader.  He served as general chairman of the Democratic National Committee from January 1995 to the end of the 1996 cycle.  Dodd faces re-election in 2004. 

Dodd was the subject of some speculation.  Robert Novak reported on Dec. 31, 2001 that Dodd had "advised friends that he is considering a run for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination."  However, a Jan. 30, 2002 article in The Hill newspaper ("Dodd: presidential bid vs. domestic bliss" by Betty Rothstein) portrayed Dodd as "really happy" with his Senate job and young daughter.   A March 15-17, 2002 visit to the early primary state of South Carolina prompted more talk, notably a March 17 article in the Hartford Courant ("Dodd Seen As 'In Play'" by David Lightman).  Lightman quoted Dodd, "I'm thinking about it.  I haven't done anything beyond that."   At the end of the year, in a lengthy article in the Dec. 1, 2002 Courant, Lightman again played up the possibility of a Dodd run ("Dodd Has Network In Place For Run: Senator Says He's Serious About Presidential Run").

However, on March 3, 2003, in a news conference in the old Statehouse building in Hartford, Dodd announced he would not run for president in 2004.
 
 

Images
2...   Florida Democratic Party State Conference, Orlando, April 14, 2002.
1...   Announcing a compromise on election reform legislation, December 13, 2001.

 

Copyright © 2002  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action