The title of the post I'm linking has already made the only pun possible on the name "Dodd"

Someone else asks the same questions I'm asking about Senator Christopher Dodd's heralded-by-no-one candidacy for president:

What motivates a man like Chris Dodd to throw his hat in the ring? It's a mystery. I understand why impossibles like Kucinich and Sharpton run; they're driven by causes and/or addicted to the self-promotion. Even somebody like Brownback has an outside chance of becoming the darling of his party's base. He's a missionary.

Dodd is (just) a solid, respectable senator with sensitive political antennae. Why embark on such an expensive, exhausting adventure? Maybe it's a way of announcing his availability for the VP slot. Maybe somewhere in his mind he can imagine the blindfolded, quadruple bank shot that knocks out Hillary and Edwards, keeps Gore and Obama out, gives Richardson and Biden food poisoning, and leaves the golden chalice sitting at his feet.