Dodd's Artillery
With Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd still facing an uphill battle for reelection, he has called in the big guns to campaign with him.
The lawmaker's office said last week that President Obama would campaign for Dodd on Oct. 23. And Vice President Joe Biden was expected to campaign with Dodd today in Fairfield, Conn., to promote the government's economic stimulus spending.
The campaign help appears to put to rest a persistent rumor that Democrats, fearing Dodd will lose, might push him to retire.
The contest for the Connecticut Democrat's seat is likely to be one of the most closely watched next year. It is rated a toss-up by political analyst Stuart Rothenberg, though Dodd's numbers have improved in recent surveys. Still, he trails Republican Rob Simmons in a hypothetical match-up, 44% to 39%, according to a Sept. 17 Quinnipiac University poll. The survey also found Dodd's job disapproval rating at its best in six months but still high.
Despite the improvement Dodd is facing a serious challenge to his reelection.
"Sen. Christopher Dodd's approval keeps edging up, and he is bringing down his high negatives. For the first time in six months, his disapproval is under 50%, just barely," said Quinnipiac University Poll Director Doug Schwartz in a press release with the Sept. 17 survey. "But the incumbent has made only slight progress against Republican front-runner Rob Simmons. About 40% of voters will vote for anybody but Dodd, as evidenced by their willingness to vote for Republican candidates they haven't heard of."
Paul on Soapbox
Rep. Ron Paul has made a habit of castigating Federal Reserve Board officials when they appear before the House Financial Services Committee, of which he is a member. But he took to a new venue last week: "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."
The Texas Republican was promoting his new book, "End the Fed," and accused the central bank of using a "counterfeit machine" to manage the economy.
"They just print money when they need it," he said. "You know you and I would go to jail for that. But the Fed gets away with it."
Stewart praised Paul for sticking to his libertarian principles regardless of whether a Democrat or Republican is in the White House.
"How you've survived in Congress for 11 years, I do not know," he said.
A 7-Eleven Multiple
7-Eleven launched a strategy last week to persuade lawmakers that interchange fees charged by banks are unfair: They buried Congress in paper.
The convenience store's chief executive officer, Joe DePinto, held a press conference on Capitol Hill last week to hand in a petition with more than 1.66 million customer signatures expressing support for a bill to curb interchange rates. The company collected the signatures in its stores from June 22 through Aug. 10 as part of its "Stop Unfair Credit Card Fees" petition drive and amassed what it called the largest number of signatures ever for a public policy issue.
The petition was so big it had to be delivered in several boxes.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., has introduced legislation to give merchants more control over interchange fees. His bill would remove antitrust hurdles to allow merchants to enter collective bargaining agreements with banks when setting interchange rates. The bill is similar to one approved in the committee last year but thwarted in the House.
Conyers, who attended the 7-Eleven event, commended the merchant's efforts. "With consumers being squeezed from all sides, and big banks receiving federal bailouts, it is time that banks and merchants come together to negotiate fair interchange rates," he said. "I hope these petitions provide the momentum necessary to address this important issue."
McDowell to SIFMA
Carter McDowell, the chief legislative counsel for the American Bankers Association is leaving the trade group for a position as managing director and associate general counsel at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, starting Oct. 12.
In his role at SIFMA, McDowell will report to Ira Hammerman as part of the group's global public policy and advocacy team. McDowell spent two and half years at the ABA, and previously served as chief counsel to the House Financial Services Committee under its former chairman Rep. Mike Oxley, R-Ohio.
