Kudlow eyeing Chris Dodd’s seat
posted at 11:55 am on March 4, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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Larry Kudlow has expressed interest and started making contacts to possibly make a run for Chris Dodd’s Senate seat in Connecticut in 2010. The cable-show financial analyst senses Dodd’s vulnerability on his sweetheart mortgage deals with Countrywide Finance and his Irish mansion, all bought on a Senator’s salary. Kudlow is the latest celebrity talking head to think about a Senate run (via Instapundit):
As conservative economist on the weeknight CNBC show “Kudlow and Co.,” Larry Kudlow just last month was poking at U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.
Dodd “has yet to divulge fully his sweetheart mortgage deals with the former Countrywide,” Kudlow said in a Feb. 13 screed. “He’s re-fi’ed his mortgages, but we don’t know those documents, either. Instead of being impeached, he’s still around.”
Now, it appears as if the TV show host and economic consultant and syndicated columnist may be going directly after Dodd.
Politico reporter Josh Kraushaar reported Monday that Kudlow “confirmed his interest” in running against Dodd in 2010.
How serious is Kudlow? Serious enough to have dinner with John Cornyn, who heads the National Republican Senatorial Commitee and would be in position to back Kudlow. Kudlow told Politico that Cornyn would love to make Dodd’s re-election a national case on Democratic policy, and presumably on Democratic ethics as well.
In 2010, the Republicans will have to run on fiscal responsibility and economic management, especially if the market continues to slide and the economy keeps stalling as badly as it is now. Dodd helped run the housing market into the ground, but thus far has managed to avoid much of the responsibility by shifting it to what he calls deregulation. Kudlow seems uniquely positioned to expose Dodd’s arguments as fraudulent and to explain in clear terms what Dodd did to wreck the nation’s economy. And that’s before Kudlow rips Dodd over the Friends of Angelo loans he received from Countrywide while he was supposed to be overseeing the industry.
Will Kudlow actually take the demotion from the CNBC show to make the run? Chris Matthews and Joe Scarborough both passed on Senate bids over the last couple of months. If Kudlow accepts the challenge, he will likely have to leave CNBC soon. That would take a remarkable commitment on Kudlow’s part, but the upside for the GOP and for the country would be tremendous. We could remove one of the worst actors on economic policy on Capitol Hill and replace him with an expert who can help repair the damage.
Now, if we could only get Rick Santelli to run against Barney Frank, we’d be golden.
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Yes please.
petunia on March 4, 2009 at 11:57 AM
Interesting idea, although I fear his demeanor would need some work.
Don’t tease, Ed. That’s too good to tease about.
MadisonConservative on March 4, 2009 at 11:58 AM
Wow-zers. From Dodd– who is a major culprit behind the subprime mess– to Kudlow? Awesomely awesome.
Pasalubong on March 4, 2009 at 11:58 AM
Heh. I’d wondered what got into Larry lately. Kinda explains all the piss n vinegar.
JiangxiDad on March 4, 2009 at 11:58 AM
Peter Schiff is the guy for Dodd’s seat
galenrox on March 4, 2009 at 11:59 AM
Go for it and help fix this fiscal nightmare.
OmahaConservative on March 4, 2009 at 11:59 AM
One downside: if he runs, he’ll have to leave his job at CNBC.
strictnein on March 4, 2009 at 11:59 AM
I question the need for the words ‘have to’ in that sentence. No, I take that back. I mourn the need for those words in that sentence.
Vashta.Nerada on March 4, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Honest to God, I may move to Connecticut to work on this campaign if Kudlow runs.
We should train ALL of our guns on taking out Harry Reid and Chris Dodd in 2010. I don’t care who else wins or loses. These two corruptocrats must go!
rockmom on March 4, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Run Larry, run.
The country needs you.
rbj on March 4, 2009 at 12:01 PM
How about Santelli for Senate in Illinois?
I would feel like I had died and gone to heaven if we could field a slate of serious economic conservatives in 2010. Even if they don’t win, they could lay the groundwork for a huge election in 2012. This is what happened in 1978.
rockmom on March 4, 2009 at 12:03 PM
Oh yes, where can I donate?
Norwegian on March 4, 2009 at 12:03 PM
Now THAT’s Hope for Change
winston on March 4, 2009 at 12:04 PM
Now, if we could only get Rick Santelli to run against Barney Frank, we’d be golden.
……..
Rick would get crushed.
artist on March 4, 2009 at 12:04 PM
Make it so, Larry. I’d love to have a clean and articulate Republican in the Senate. ; ))
Angry Dumbo on March 4, 2009 at 12:07 PM
As opposed to the failed methods of running as democrat lites?
It’s just crazy enough to work. Too bad it’s not in their heart. They don’t believe in it.
lorien1973 on March 4, 2009 at 12:08 PM
Or teabagged.
lorien1973 on March 4, 2009 at 12:08 PM
Here is where you can go to encourage Larry to run.
TheBigOldDog on March 4, 2009 at 12:10 PM
A guy like Kudlow probably would be embraced by many Wall Street types who voted for Obama and who also live in Connecticut. That would help when it came to financing his campaign.
Pope Linus on March 4, 2009 at 12:10 PM
Damn! I wish I still lived in CT!
ctmom on March 4, 2009 at 12:12 PM
Just imagine how many hours a day of national radio interviews could Larry do, without talking politics… +1 Senate seat, and a national electorate with some ability to vote based on markets and economics…
After the last 6 months of bloodletting, the southern CT financial crew should be opening up what is left of their check books…
phreshone on March 4, 2009 at 12:17 PM
Kudlow will get my money! A great Reagan economics guy.
jencab on March 4, 2009 at 12:17 PM
What Larry need to do for starters, is to go to Germany (but don’t stop and see our wounded GI’s), find a nice Public Monument (that will hold say 200,220 dope addicts and assorted unemployed Germans or so) and then speak to them in English (none can understand a word he will be saying)….and then he can run for office as soon as his staff hires someone like Rahm “F” Word to run his “truth” campaign……………
Cinday Blackburn on March 4, 2009 at 12:18 PM
Nah… I feel safer here in the Republic of Texas…
phreshone on March 4, 2009 at 12:18 PM
It occurs to me that we could end up with the most pro-business congress ever if the Dems keep up their dirty games.
However, they have got ACORN and other election stealing arms pretty well funded. Minnisota will never be clean again. Neither will Washington State. The elections in those states are as false as in Iraq under Sadam.
petunia on March 4, 2009 at 12:18 PM
I heard Peter Schiff might be considering a run too. Either would be an improvement but my nod goes to Schiff.
https://www.schiff2010.com/blog/2009/february/message-peter-schiff-senate-2010
voiceofreason on March 4, 2009 at 12:19 PM
I don’t know much about Larry Kudlow, but it’s hard to imagine even a lobotomized chicken being worse than Dodd. Still…I didn’t think we could do worse than Clinton either.
SKYFOX on March 4, 2009 at 12:20 PM
One big mustard seed. Kudlow might have a shot after libs see what they’ve wrought upon themselves and the rest of the nation.
I’d pay to see that debate.
moxie_neanderthal on March 4, 2009 at 12:21 PM
Go Kudlow! You’d be a vast improvement over that incompetent crook Dodd.
AZCoyote on March 4, 2009 at 12:21 PM
Kudlow would be fabulous and such a huge improvement over Chris Dodd.
I want Rick Santelli to run for Burris’ seat.
Make it the new CNBC/GOP initiative.
Jenfidel on March 4, 2009 at 12:24 PM
I seem to recall that Kudlow was tub-thumping for TARP back in the day….
Not sure he’s the answer, though I’d reevaluate if he stays consistent on his current message.
Still, this is a one-issue situation as of now. I’d like to know much more about his beliefs and values away from the economic scene.
Wish we could convince Krauthammer, Williams and Sowell to run!
MrScribbler on March 4, 2009 at 12:25 PM
This is great news. I’m certain he’d make an excellent US Senator.
RepubChica on March 4, 2009 at 12:25 PM
Is there a viable candidate against Reid? He’s vulnerable. Find a good candidate and start working now, if Reid is on the chopping block for 2012.
promachus on March 4, 2009 at 12:30 PM
as long as he lays off the cocaine…i dont care. chris dodd needs to go.
ernesto on March 4, 2009 at 12:32 PM
C’mon Kudlow! Do your patriotic duty! lol
youngO on March 4, 2009 at 12:35 PM
Duuude. I’d vote for lucifer instead of Dodd.
marklmail on March 4, 2009 at 12:35 PM
Why should Kudlow have any more trouble than Obama? Personally, I’m not in favor of either of them as politicians.
JiangxiDad on March 4, 2009 at 12:36 PM
I live in CT and will GLADLY assist Kudlow’s campaign in any way I can, should he decide to run!
We simply HAVE to DUMP DODD!
Logic on March 4, 2009 at 12:37 PM
Have you noticed GE’s stock is headed over the waterfall? Some traders are now betting they won’t make it, just as they did with AIG, LEH, FRE, FNM, AIG, BSC etc.
flyfisher on March 4, 2009 at 12:37 PM
We need the grown-ups back in politics. We need Kudlow in Connecticut.
RobCon on March 4, 2009 at 12:38 PM
I like a lot of things about Kudlow. My problem with him, however, is his belief in the ponzi economic system we’ve had for years. Where he sees prosperity, I see debt slaves.
flyfisher on March 4, 2009 at 12:40 PM
Who cares. It’ll be the last reason keeping me from permanently blocking CNBC.
Besides, I can then tune in to CSPAN and watch Kudlow every night.
BacaDog on March 4, 2009 at 12:51 PM
Be still, my beating heart! A political neutron bomb zeroed in on Capitol Hill, and a second wave heading for the White House.
CK MacLeod on March 4, 2009 at 12:52 PM
Wow! This would be excellent!
And I am a CT resident, who’s political activity was awakened for the first time in the 2008 election after Sarah Palin was selected.
I would do what I could to get Kudlow in!
His main competition may be Rob Simmons, who was a Rep for my district until he lost to Joe Courtney by a few hundred votes, and then who worked as a business liaison for Gov Rell until the Dem legislature eliminated his position. He’s been making the radio talk show rounds lately.
Simmons is infinitely better than Dodd and I was all for him though he is a self-proclaimed moderate. But if Kudlow gets in, I think I will be all in for him.
hrh40 on March 4, 2009 at 12:55 PM
Run Larry, run! Dodd and his lack of oversight and complicity in the Freddie and Fannie scams on hard working Americans is beyond the pale. Couple that with his sweetheart mortgage deal with failed Countrywide (which he was supposed to oversee) and you have a corrupt and out of touch member of the politboro – - not a US Senator. The faster CT wises up and disposes of that piece of human trash the better.
kens on March 4, 2009 at 12:59 PM
It doesn’t get better than this. Go Larry Kudlow!
sinsing on March 4, 2009 at 1:00 PM
Here’s an Ohioan who will break his piggy bank to see Dodd go down. Dodd is a first-class POS who so far has been skating despite his role in creating this financial mess. I’d love to see him enduring a very long campaign season with Kudlow clubbing him at will.
I’m envisioning the Hot Air posts already. The video clips will be gold, Jerry, pure gold.
BuckeyeSam on March 4, 2009 at 1:18 PM
I hope he does. The sooner we can get candidates for these offices, the sooner we can start supporting them.
Iblis on March 4, 2009 at 1:19 PM
Dems need to sink Dodd in the Primary if they want this seat. CT is always vulnerable.
DeathToMediaHacks on March 4, 2009 at 1:29 PM
As a Connecticut resident and memeber of the “For What it’s Worth” Connecticut GOP, I’d welcome Mr. Kudlow with both cash donations and volunteer time.
SuperCool on March 4, 2009 at 1:31 PM
Politics is mostly about platitudes and avoiding pitfalls.
Being a charismatic airhead seems to be the current qualification for high office…actual, real world experience or wisdom need not apply.
Asher on March 4, 2009 at 1:31 PM
The title of this thread is amusing.
guido911 on March 4, 2009 at 1:41 PM
I heard that Chris Dodd’s mortgage paperwork is in the same place as ALL of John Kerry’s military records.
How long we been waiting to see Kerry’s records?
GarandFan on March 4, 2009 at 1:56 PM
Fantasy –
Kudlow wins along with a Republican/Conservative triumph across the board. Chris Dudd, Barney “Cocktail” Frank and Franklin Raines are indicted. ACORN is indicted and dismantled under a RICO investigation.
I can dream, can’t I?????
J.J. Sefton on March 4, 2009 at 2:03 PM
Along with all of Barry Sotero’s school records. That impossible to find place must be getting crowded.
jukin on March 4, 2009 at 2:03 PM
I have a feeling that Kudlow will become persona non grata by NBC with his recent tirades on the Messiahs stimulus package. Kramer is the only free thinker who will survive. Has anyone ever listened to the nonsense Donnie Duetshe (sp?) spews? He is absolutely a castrated sycophant. He will be the face of CNBC in the future. How much money does GE need from a bailout?
Fuquay Steve on March 4, 2009 at 2:57 PM
You guys forget that while Kudlow was an economist for Reagan, worked in the Fed, was the chief economist for Bear Sterns, he was also a raging coke head.
He had to make a public admission and go into rehab, as is wife sued for divorce and locked up his accounts so he couldn’t go on a “weeks long cocaine binge” using their Bear Sterns retirement fund.
Vincenzo on March 4, 2009 at 3:02 PM
I would love to have Kudlow in the Senate, but the only way any Republican wins this seat is if they actually get to face Dodd in the general. If Dodd somehow manages to hold off a primary challenger, he’ll just be Torricelli’d when it becomes obvious he’d lose to the Republican nominee (Kudlow or whoever else it might be).
What’s that you say? Connecticut law doesn’t allow for changes to the ballot after a primary, or at the last minute? No problem. The rule is there are no rules that can’t be overruled when there’s a Democrat seat that needs saving.
djm1992 on March 4, 2009 at 3:04 PM
And your point is?
Fuquay Steve on March 4, 2009 at 3:04 PM
I just don’t understand gays…. They are not lacking for intelligence, so how come they keep voting for a blatantly corrupt fool like Frank?
Will they wake up after the smoke clears from the Obama disaster and start to vote more conservatively?
UltimateBob on March 4, 2009 at 3:07 PM
Folks with public drug dramas dont’ always do well on the political circuit.
I will give Mr. Kudlow two thumbs for converting to Catholicism, though.
Vincenzo on March 4, 2009 at 3:13 PM
Wasn’t Obama?
See above.
BacaDog on March 4, 2009 at 3:29 PM
Hey, I’d vote for him, I’m just sayin’.
Vincenzo on March 4, 2009 at 3:34 PM
I do live in CT, and would be happy to vote and campaign for Kudlow. He obviously has a strong reputation as an economic conservative, and is well-placed to bash Dodd’s hypocrisy, although he does come across as an egghead.
You’ve got to wonder whether Kudlow can win CT though. The big cities here (Hartford, Bridgeport, New Haven) are full of run-down slums whose sheeple vote Democrat for the handouts, and even the rich suburbs in SW Connecticut (Greenwich, Stamford) and western Hartford and Litchfield Counties voted for Obama last year–AGAINST their own economic interests–a lot of voters here feel that it’s their duty to “help the poor”.
Still, Republican Governor Jodi Rell (a fiscal conservative and social moderate) won by a large margin last time, possibly due to her keeping a big-spending Democrat State Legislature in check with her veto pen.
Dodd may be vulnerable on corruption and economic issues, and Kudlow would have to focus on economic and tax issues, campaigning mostly in the rich suburbs of SW-CT, the Connecticut and Farmington River valley, the industrial areas of Groton, New London, and Waterbury, and rural Eastern Connecticut, to make up for losses in the big cities.
Steve Z on March 4, 2009 at 3:41 PM
In 2006, Joe Lieberman lost the Democrat primary to anti-war Ned Lamont, but got enough petition signatures the next day to run as an Independent, and won re-election over Lamont and a very weak Republican, with many Republicans voting for Lieberman.
In a three-way race between Dodd, another Democrat, and Kudlow, Kudlow would have an excellent chance.
Steve Z on March 4, 2009 at 3:45 PM
Saddly, Kudlow is a firm AMNESTY lover.
He will stand firmly with McCain, Graham and Kennedy.
It would be much more difficult to fight him than idiot Dodd.
Repubiks will NOT fight him.
lilspitfire on March 4, 2009 at 3:51 PM
Too good to be true.
DaveKlassix on March 4, 2009 at 4:39 PM
Yes, he certainly would, but I don’t think it would actually come to this. Unlike Lieberman, I can’t see Dodd getting enough support to run as an independent if his approval #’s keep declining. If Dodd loses his primary, he’s probably toast. If he manages to win his primary but it subsequently becomes obvious he’ll lose in November, the Democrats will find a way to play the New Jersey option and get him replaced on the ballot. It’s unlikely he’d be able to make an independent run in this case as well, but who knows? Stranger things have happened
djm1992 on March 4, 2009 at 4:41 PM
How’s that goldilocks doin’ for ya there Larry? This guy was mocking anyone who mentioned the word recession early last year as crazy. His advice at Dow 10K…BUY. His advice at 9K…BUY. At 9k…BUY. Like any good Wall St. shill, his advice is always BUY BUY BUY and there is always a bull market right around the corner.
While a steaming pile of cow shit would be better than Dodd, Kudlow doesn’t exactly inspire me.
angryed on March 4, 2009 at 5:00 PM
THANK YOU!
silverfox on March 4, 2009 at 6:49 PM
I love Kudlow, but no, this is not a good idea. This is as gay of an idea as Chris Matthews running for office. And I don’t mean it’s ‘gay’ in the homosexual way. I mean it’s gay in the ‘lame’ way.
Well, maybe a teensy bit in the homosexual way too.
Kevin M on March 4, 2009 at 7:26 PM
I don’t know how keen we should be on TV personalities running for office. There are TONS more Lefties in the Media and Entertainment business than conservatives.
AntonK on March 4, 2009 at 8:11 PM
GO LARRY GO!!!! I’D VOTE FOR HIM!
JeffVader on March 5, 2009 at 2:39 AM
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