Back-room Presidential Politics at CUNA's GAC

WASHINGTON - Democratic Presidential hopeful Christopher Dodd gathered credit union executives in key primary states in a back room at the Washington Hilton after remarks at CUNA's Governmental Affairs Conference in order to gauge support in those critical states. During his remarks to 3,000 credit union executives and volunteers Dodd hit on populist themes he has been trying out in his new role as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, like the need to rein in predatory lending and extend credit to the underserved.

Afterwards, the Connecticut Senator gathered a handful of representatives to the earliest Democratic primary states, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, as well as his home state of Connecticut, and California, to try to gauge the support of those issues in their states, according to individuals who were present at the closed-door meeting.

But Dodd never asked for their support, financial or otherwise, the attendees said.

Dodd is one of a half-dozen Democrats already running for the 2008 nomination.

Dodd spoke last Tuesday afternoon, a few hours after his state's other senator, Joe Lieberman, who ran for vice president in 2000 on the Democratic ticket with Al Gore. (c) 2007 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com