Opinion: Chris Dodd’s 1% solution

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Sometimes, it doesn’t hurt to think small, especially when your immediate goal is simply to keep from getting swallowed by bigger fish.

Chris Dodd is one of several presidential candidates --- in both parties --- who isn’t going to report a king’s ransom in contributions after the latest fundraising period ends Sunday. But as he did through the year’s first six months, when he raised more than $7 million, he needs enough to carry on. Enough to pay the basic bills and keep his long-shot scenario alive (the hope that just before the voting starts, his party will realize what a gem he’s been all along).

Joining others making their final pushes for dough, Dodd sent out a short e-mail to supporters late this week asking for ... $23.

Every little bit helps, after all. And not asking for the moon could maximize his return.

We wondered, though, why $23? Could it be that the figure represents precisely 1% of the $2,300 cap on donations to a single candidate in the primary season?

For Dodd, that definitely would be logical. In virtually every national poll of Democratic-leaning voters, from the campaign’s start to now, Dodd has had a lock on 1% support.

That’s also what he scored in the recent LA Times/Bloomberg surveys that zeroed in on Iowa and South Carolina (in New Hampshire, he didn’t quite meet that threshold --- perhaps many of those $23 checks are destined for use in the Granite State).

-- Don Frederick