Projo Politics Blog

HARTFORD, Conn. -- U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd may be the home state presidential candidate in 2008, but a new statewide poll released Monday shows he's far from the top choice among voters in Connecticut.

The Quinnipiac University survey shows Dodd with 8 percent of the vote in a possible Democratic primary. New York Sen. Hillary Clinton leads the pack with 33 percent, followed by Sen. Barack Obama with 21 percent and former Vice President Al Gore with nine percent.

Dodd has a slight advantage in Connecticut over former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who has 5 percent of the vote.

"If Sen. Christopher Dodd can't even come close to winning a Democratic primary in his home state, that's obviously a bad sign for his presidential campaign," said Poll Director Douglas Schwartz.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut chairman of Dodd's presidential campaign, said the poll shows that voters in Connecticut love Dodd as a senator.

"Now they're just beginning to focus on the possibility that he might be president," Blumenthal said. "There's still loads of time to change that image. And the good news is, he has very high approval numbers as senator. It should translate into lots of support for president."

-- The Associated Press

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