Sources: Dodd won't run for president
Connecticut Democrat to hold news conference
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut has decided against seeking the Democratic Party's nomination for president next year, The Associated Press has learned.
Sources in Washington and Hartford, Connecticut, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Dodd will not join the crowded field of Democratic candidates. Nine Democrats either have announced plans to run or created committees to begin fund raising for a possible White House bid.
A senior Democratic official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Dodd's staff began informing fellow Democrats Monday morning that he will not run. Dodd, who is up for re-election to the Senate in 2004, scheduled a news conference for noon in Hartford, Connecticut to answer questions about his plans.
The 58-year-old Dodd had been widely quoted in recent months as indicating an interest in the nomination. But the Journal Inquirer of Manchester, Connecticut, citing unnamed party insiders, reported January 31 that he likely would not seek the nomination.
Dodd, who was general chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is the senior senator from Connecticut. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, also a Connecticut Democrat, entered the presidential race earlier this year.
Dodd visited California, Florida and North Carolina in recent months, but he did not make requisite stops in New Hampshire or Iowa, where the first primaries and caucuses can go a long way toward determining the party's nominee.
First elected to the Senate in 1980, Dodd was author of the landmark Family and Medical Leave Act guaranteeing workers at larger companies time off to care for a new child or sick relative. Dodd, who served in the Dominican Republic as a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1960s, has been a leading voice on foreign policy, particularly issues involving Latin America and South America.
Dodd challenged South Dakota's Tom Daschle for his party's Senate leadership job in 1995 and lost by a single vote.
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