GOP Field Against Dodd Shrinking, From Five Candidates To Four (And Maybe Three)

The huge field of GOP candidates to oppose Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) has just gotten a bit smaller, and could shrink even further, as the state readjusts to an open gubernatorial race.

Former Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley has announced that he is now considering a run for governor, in the wake of GOP Gov. Jodi Rell's announcement that she's retiring: "We no longer have an incumbent Governor seeking re-election. I have had a number of conversations with people who are encouraging me to consider running for Governor because they believe I could better serve Connecticut today as Governor than as a Senator. They believe that as an experienced executive and someone who understands the economy and how jobs are created, I have a background and set of skills uniquely suited to addressing the very serious spending problems and other economic challenges now facing our state."

State Sen. Sam Caligiuri has also announced that he's definitely out of the Senate race, and is instead running for the House of Representatives against second-term Democrat Chris Murphy.

In his statement, Caligiuri bluntly admitted that there are stronger Senate candidates: "Over the last eight months, I have devoted myself to running for the United States Senate because I believe that Chris Dodd has failed the people of Connecticut and that we need a Senator who will put the people of Connecticut first. I have been joined in that race by other Republican candidates for whom I have come to have a great deal of respect, and who I have concluded are in a better position than I am to defeat Senator Dodd."

This leaves the nomination as a three-way race between former Rep. Rob Simmons, former Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon, and libertarian financial commentator Peter Schiff.

Connecticut Democratic Party communications director Colleen Flanagan claimed this as a vindication of Dodd's chances, in a statement: "For an allegedly 'vulnerable' incumbent, Chris Dodd may not seem like such an easy picking to the candidates running against him. In one day, the field of Republican challengers has essentially been cut in half, with Caligiuri and Foley fleeing for greener pastures, leaving a backbench defeated House member with zero accomplishments to his political name, a professional wrestling executive most notable for her dissemination of violence, vulgarity, and steroids, and a Ron Paul acolyte."