Opinion: Connecticut Sen. Dodd now hails from Iowa

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Iowa is going to be a little over-represented in the U.S. Senate for the next few months. It’ll have three U.S. senators living there instead of the normal two.

That’s because Sen. Chris Dodd, who normally represents Connecticut, is moving into the Hawkeye State with his family while he campaigns for the upcoming Iowa Democratic caucuses. He wants to be president. And this is what you do when you’re way behind John Edwards, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

How Connecticut feels about losing a senator is an open question right now.

The Dodd family has rented a house in Des Moines for the duration to be closer to the prairie campaign scene, where Dodd must make his initial mark or face swift elimination from the Democratic field. His wife, Jackie Clegg Dodd, is moving out to the Midwest too along with their two daughters, 6-year-old Grace and 2-year-old Christina. They’ve even enrolled Grace in kindergarten.

‘We are committed to the state,’ said Dodd spokeswoman Taylor West.

Dodd follows in the footsteps of former Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, who rented an apartment in Iowa for the campaign duration and went on to win the 1988 caucus. But he didn’t last long after that.

-- Andrew Malcolm