Merrick Alpert was a member of former VP Al Gore's advance team. (Getty)
Connecticut Sen.
Christopher J. Dodd, who has faced a series of political difficulties, is getting the first official challenger for his 2010 Democratic primary:
Merrick Alpert, a former aide to Vice President Al Gore who also has been an Air Force officer and software company executive.
Alpert intends to formally launch his candidacy Tuesday, according to a statement he posted on his Web site over the weekend.
Dodd finds himself at political risk heading into his 2010 campaign: Highly popular through most of his career, his approval ratings among Connecticut voters have dropped sharply over the past year -- because of questions raised about the Senate Banking Committee chairman's ties to the financial industry, though also because many state voters were disgruntled over his brief, failed bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
And Alpert, a first-time candidate who worked on Democrat Bill Clinton's presidential campaigns as well as Gore's, didn't mince words in seeking to contrast himself with Dodd.
Alpert, in his online statement, said, "You deserve a senator who is not a career politician, but has instead spent the vast majority of his adult life working in the private sector just like you."
"You deserve a senator," he continued, "who represents the interests of the people of Connecticut, not the interests of massive corporate campaign contributors," and "who represents a fundamental change from the culture of corruption that permeates Washington today."
It remains to be seen, though, whether Alpert, who is unknown to all but a handful of voters in the state, will be able to gain any traction against Dodd. The incumbent, despite his political wounds, continues to have the support of the party establishment.
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