First,
the bad U.S. Senate news:
Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) will not run for reelection this year, he said Tuesday, providing Republicans with a major opportunity to pick up a Senate seat in the November midterm elections.
[...]
Democrats acknowledged privately that they were stunned by Dorgan's decision and called it a significant blow to their hopes of holding 60 votes in the Senate. The only obvious possibility for Democrats to recruit is Rep. Earl Pomeroy, who replaced Dorgan in 1992 as the state's at-large representative. Reports differed Tuesday on Pomeroy's intentions, but if he did decide to make the Senate race, it would catapult his House seat to the top of Republicans' target list.
The chances of keeping a 60-seat Democratic U.S. Senate caucus just dropped to...well, very low. Ugh.
On the brighter side,
this is excellent news (although a sad ending to Chris Dodd's career):
Senator Christopher J. Dodd’s plan to retire from Congress sets the stage for a contentious battle for a seat that Democrats have held for 46 years, with the party hoping to hold out against determined Republican opposition.
Democrats are likely to look to Richard Blumenthal, the state’s popular attorney general, to run for Mr. Dodd’s seat.
This should shift the U.S. Senate race in Connecticut from "tossup" or even "leans Republican" to "likely Democratic retention."
