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Dodd considering 2008 presidential bidBy Mark Preston and Ed Henry  Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Connecticut, first won a seat in Congress in 1974. YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSWASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd said that he is eyeing a presidential bid in 2008, joining a packed field of Democrats considering a White House run. The Connecticut Democrat outlined his decision in Tuesday editions of The Hartford Courant, his state's largest newspaper. "This is the right time for me," he told the paper. "This is the right thing to do." Dodd, who turns 62 Saturday, is serving his fifth term in the Senate. The lawmaker has flirted with the idea of a presidential run before. He briefly considered a bid in 2004 but chose instead to back Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the junior senator from Connecticut, in his ultimately unsuccessful quest for the Democratic nomination. Dodd is the senior Democrat on the Senate Committee on Rules & Administration, which has jurisdiction over policy matters but largely is viewed as an administrative panel with authority over issues such as assigning parking spaces on Capitol Hill. He also is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee; Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee; and the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee. Dodd also considered running for Senate minority leader in 2004 after the defeat of Sen. Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, but quickly decided against it when Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid, D-Nevada, declared he had enough votes to succeed Daschle. Ten years earlier, in a race for the same post, Dodd had lost to Daschle by one vote. Dodd told the Hartford newspaper he plans "to do all the things that are necessary to prepare to seek the presidency in 2008," such as hiring campaign staff and traveling to key states to gauge support for a potential candidacy. Dodd first won a seat to the House of Representatives in 1974. 
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