Dodd has been repeatedly exposed over the last few years as corrupt and incompetent; as head of the Senate Banking Committee, he's plenty culpable in the subprime mortgage industry implosion. And like Dear Leader himself, Dodd has been caught lying often, like when he claimed he "didn't know" he received two sweetheart "VIP" loan deals from Countrywide Financial- while the CEO testified before Congress that he and other legislators knew from the get-go.
Not to mention that Dodd has been in the forefront of ObamaCare cheerleading, a bill that would surely destroy the private HC insurance industry... much of which is located in Dodd's home state. For these and other reasons, the Senator's poll numbers were looking grim indeed... lagging potential challengers by double-digits.