Christopher Dodd's Bold Move for Exposure

Christopher Dodd (D-CT) is considered an also ran in the race for the Democratic nomination in 2008. He lacks money, he lacks supporters, he lacks political base, but he keeps on running. Desperate times call for desperate measures and he is certainly in that situation. However, this week he has been one of the most mentioned names on the news, often eclipsing Clinton and Obama.

Why the sudden interest in Dodd? Well, the Connecticut Senator is the Chairman of the influential Senate Banking Committee and he is taking the Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke to task for doing too little, too late in the current mortgage crisis.

There is a great deal of speculation as to his objectives. Some say that he is trying to look like the champion of the lower income individuals who have been harmed by the mortgages they obtained. Others think that he is trying to curtail the independence of the Federal Reserve. I'm cynical, I think the low profile candidate of the high profile race is looking for a little media attention. He isn't going to seriously influence our monetary system. Furthermore, he won't even intimidate Bernanke in rescuing home owners (although I won't be surprise if Congress does such a bail out). He simply is trying to develop an affordable way to get his face on the evening news. This week, it worked.