Dodd to join 2008 race

NEW YORK — Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd, a veteran lawmaker who entered Congress in the post-Watergate Class of 1974, will announce his bid for the presidency, Democratic officials said Wednesday.

Dodd, 62, will make the formal announcement in an interview Thursday morning on the "Imus in the Morning" radio show — a curious bit of timing since he'll be forced to compete with heavy coverage of President Bush's speech on the Iraq war.

Dodd will travel late Thursday to Iowa, which will host the first presidential nominating caucus next January. He heads to South Carolina, an early primary state, on Sunday.

Kathy Sullivan, the chairwoman of the Democratic Party in New Hampshire, said in an interview that she had spoken to Dodd and he said, "'I'm not going to do the exploratory thing, I'm going to plunge right in."'

The 26-year Senate veteran enters a growing Democratic field overshadowed by two likely candidates — Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois. Outgoing Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack has already announced his candidacy, as have former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

Throughout his decades-long career in Washington, the Connecticut senator has forged strong ties with labor unions, championed fiscal accountability for corporations and championed education and other children's issues. This month, he became chairman of the influential Senate Banking Committee and is a senior member of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Sullivan said Dodd had other attributes that would make him appealing to voters.

"People really like him. He's very smart. He's also very articulate. And I think he might have the sharpest wit of anyone in the field," Sullivan said.

Dodd voted in 2002 to authorize military intervention in Iraq, but has become an outspoken critic of the war and now calls his vote a mistake. He has said he would oppose an escalation of U.S. forces in Iraq and has said Congress should consider withholding funding for such a troop increase.

Dodd has been politically active on behalf of other Democrats, raising money and campaigning for candidates across the country and chaired the Democratic National Committee from 1995-96.

In 1974, he was elected to the House at the age of 30, part of a Democratic tide after the Watergate scandal and President Nixon's resignation. His father, Thomas Dodd, served as a senator for two terms.

Dodd and his wife, Jackie Marie Clegg, have two daughters, ages 5 and 22 months.