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| Sen. Christopher Dodd D-Conn. tours AmeriCares free clinic in Norwalk, Conn. Saturday, Aug. 1, 2009 with AmeriCares Chief of Staff Carol Shattuck, left. Dodd announced Friday that he has prostate cancer. |
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- The steady criticism Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd has faced for months has been replaced by get well wishes from rivals after he announced he has an early stage of prostate cancer.
But political experts don't expect the disease or voter sympathy to play a role in the Democrat's re-election campaign.
Quinnipiac University poll director Douglas Schwartz says Dodd's announcement and planned surgery this month will create only a temporary pause in the 2010 campaign.
Dodd expects to have surgery at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center before resting at home. He says he expects to be back in Washington when Congress reconvenes in September.
The 65-year-old senator has been dogged by questions about discount mortgages he received. He trailed former Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons 48 percent to 39 percent in a recent statewide poll.
