Sen. Christopher Dodd to retire: report

By Michael Kitchen LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., is expected to announce Wednesday that he won't seek re-election this fall, according to an Associated Press report, citing unnamed Democratic Party officials. Dodd, a five-term veteran and chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is facing troubling poll numbers, and his popularity has dropped since his 2008 failed run for president, the report said. Word of his retirement came just hours after North Dakota Democrat Byron Dorgan announced he, too, would not seek re-election, it said.