Sen. Dodd's new chairmanship gives him opportunity to raise big money

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) is thinking of running for president. Place him in the longshot/vice presidential pick pool with Delaware's Joe Biden.

According to this AP article, he's a pretty good fundraiser, and he may become a more productive one.

Wall Street also looms large. The Connecticut senator will become chairman of the Senate Banking Committee in Congress, giving him oversight of the nation's banking, financial services and insurance industries. The post will create new fundraising opportunities - a potential boost for a long shot prospect like Dodd who must prove he can raise the tens of million of dollars needed to stay competitive in the 2008 campaign.

"Any time you are chairman of a committee that oversees, arguably, the wealthiest sector of society, that's a significant opportunity to raise some real dough," said Chris Lehane, a Democratic strategist from several presidential campaigns. "But it's potentially a double-edged sword."

The senator has accepted millions of dollars in contributions from Wall Street interests during his 25 years in the Senate, but his new chairmanship, plus his White House ambitions, have upped the ante.

"It's a tightrope walk when you're the chairman of a committee that regulates the industry that gives the most money to politics, in general," said Massie Ritsch, communications director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan watchdog group. "It has to be tempting to take a lot of money from this industry, because they want to give it so much."

Of course Democrats will view any Dodd harvests of cash from the insurance and banking industries with suspicion. The Dems traditionally aren't friendly to this group, and the core support on the Left views the financial services field with suspicion.

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