Democrats Must Find New Candidate for Dodd's Seat—Now

Richard Blumenthal, until yesterday the frontrunner for Chris Dodd's Connecticut Senate seat, is toast, and the sooner Democrats recognize it the better, Nate Silver writes. You may be able to cheat on your wife and get away with it, he argues at FiveThirtyEight, but you can't cheat on your Vietnam War record—or lack of same—and expect voters to trust you. Especially if you're attorney general, "a position which is supposed to connote trustworthiness, precision, and law-abidance."

Dems needn't wait for the polling to assess the fallout, Silver suggests, but go for one of Connecticut's five Democratic members of the US House—Rosa DeLauro and Chris Murphy have both been touted as senatorial material in the past. Or divert Ned Lamont, or Stamford mayor Dan Malloy, from the governor's race. (More Connecticut stories.)