In electoral terms, it's close to--but not quite--a wash for the Democrats. In North Dakota, the party goes from a likely win to a sure loss. In Connecticut, it goes from likely loss to likely win.
Suzy Khimm wrote a terrific piece about Dodd this summer. I especially like the ending:
"He was charged with no crime," Dodd has written of his father, "and broke no law. ... He always argued that he had done nothing wrong. But the job that he adored was gone." As he scrambles to escape the same fate four decades later, the younger Dodd is trying mightily to put a positive spin on his recent travails--telling me recently that he felt he had caught something of a break by becoming enmeshed in controversy so early in the election cycle. "I'm getting prepared and ready probably earlier than most," he says. "This is, in a sense, a gift--to know what it's like." Then again, after witnessing what happened to his father, Chris Dodd probably shouldn't have needed the reminder.