The Washington Post reported yesterday that Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut will retire after serving his present term (and after receiving $100 million in pork in the current Senate healthcare bill).

The news that Senator Dodd is retiring is not a surprise.  The polls in Connecticut indicated that he would not be re-elected.  As Senator Dodd’s retirement was announced yesterday, Senator, Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.)  also announced that he would not seek re-election.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is expected to run for Chris Dodd’s seat, and he should be able to keep the seat in Democrat hands.  Representative Chris Murphy is expected to challenge Senator Joe Lieberman for his seat in 2012.

Chris Dodd’s approval ratings began to fall when it was disclosed that he had been given a special deal from Countrywide Mortgage at the time when he was on the committee that oversaw the mortgage industry.  If he had not retired, he probably would have been defeated in the coming election.