Dodd to get another Republican challenger?

by: Scarce

Wed May 27, 2009 at 07:19:49 AM EDT

Peter Schiff, a Connecticut-based brokerage firm owner who has been  widely hailed for predicting the U.S. financial meltdown, says he's "leaning towards" challenging  Chris Dodd's reelection next year, a move that could make the contest a nationally watched media event.

"It's better than 50-50," Schiff told me a few moments ago, saying he'd decide in the next "two to three weeks."

National Dems say they would take Schiff seriously, because of his personal wealth and because his predictions have made him something of a YouTube folk hero. He's a libertarian whose father is reportedly in jail at the age of 81 for refusing to pay taxes, and he says he's inherited many of Ron Paul's fans. One former Dodd operative conceded he has a "huge grassroots following."

The media would eat it up if someone who nailed the meltdown challenged Dodd, a major recipient of Wall Street money who was chair of the Senate Banking Committee during the collapse. Schiff suggested he would portray Dodd as asleep at the economic switch at a time when Schiff saw the collapse coming.