[UPDATE BELOW] Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is holding a press conference today to defend himself against a damaging expose in the NY Times, which asserts that he repeatedly lied and exaggerated about his military service during the Vietnam War. This is big trouble for Democrats because Blumenthal is running to claim Chris Dodd's Senate seat, and the article catches their guy with his pants way down and on fire. more ›

Five-term Connecticut Democrat Chris Dodd is holding a press conference today to announce his decision not to seek re-election. Dodd's exit highlights the challenges Democrats face winning votes from amnesiac Americans blaming them for the Bush administration's wreckage. But Dodd was facing a tough re-election battle against a super-rich Republican named Linda McMahon, and Democratic party insiders had privately hoped he would step aside. The state’s highly popular attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, is expected to run, the Times reports. But Dodd isn't the only Democrat calling it quits. more ›

While her husband Vince might be given "no chance in hell" if he were to run for public office, former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon is being treated like a serious candidate after announcing that she will run for the Connecticut Senate seat now held by Democrat Christopher Dodd. McMahon is a good friend of CT Governor Jodi Rell, who nominated her for the the State Board of Ed earlier this year. McMahon's publicity stunt candidacy is being sold as a self-funded fiscally conservative but socially left-leaning outsider, that at least one political expert says "could improve the image of the party" in the state. The announcement gave McMahon's fellow Republican challengers a chance to make corny jokes about not expecting "smackdowns" and whether she was "a welterweight," despite that having no connection to WWE lure. Everyone expects McMahon to take heat for raunchy WWE programming, but no outlets mentioned what a liability her promotion of state gang activity may be through her son Shane's "Mean Street Posse" from the rough terrain of Greenwich, CT. more ›

Last night, eight Democratic candidates met in the first debate of the already very long road to the 2008 presidential election. And the debate, which included Senators Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, and Joseph Biden, as well as former Senator John Edwards and Mike Gravel, Representative Dennis Kucinich, and New Mexico Bill Richardson, was more an opportunity to criticize President Bush's policies, versus each other. With eight candidates vying to make the most of the time, it was a somewhat underwhelming debate. more ›