Can Peter Schiff Unseat Chris Dodd in 2010?

One of the Senate seats said to be up for grabs in 2010 is Chris Dodd's in Connecticut. Peter Schiff, of Internet and free-market capitalism fame, may be planning a run to oust the five-term Democrat.
For those unfamiliar with Peter Schiff, he's president of Euro Pacific Capital and has gained popularity based on a YouTube video that shows other economists laughing at him when he predicts (accurately, as it turns out) the housing crisis.

Schiff follows the Austrian school of economics, an extremely pro-free-market, anti-government-intervention movement. As Schiff reasons in the many television appearances he has made, the U.S. economy borrows too much and produces too little, and at some point a structural shift is needed to right the ship.

The question for Republicans in Connecticut is whether Schiff gives them the best chance at winning. As the national debt and level of government intervention in business continues to grow with bailouts, stimulus funding and a health care overhaul, Schiff and other free-market capitalists are looking like better candidates.

It's not just Schiff's free-market views that make him viable, though. Schiff is bound to gain the support of Ron Paul, whom he served as an economics adviser in Paul's 2008 presidential campaign. With that support, Schiff is likely to wreak havoc in online polls.

This all strikes at Dodd and his many quotes about how fundamentally strong the mortgage and housing markets were prior to their demise. In many ways, Schiff saw everything that Dodd was blind to in the current economic crisis, and Schiff would no doubt want to drive that point home. (It's a point many other Connecticut residents are driving home in a different way).

And that's not Dodd's only vulnerability. He's been criticized for getting special treatment from mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, was forced to return contributions to a financier accused of defrauding investors, and admitted that he'd stripped language from the stimulus bill that would have limited AIG bonuses. All this has the GOP thinking big about 2010 -- and Schiff isn't the only Republican possibly interested in a run.

The problems that Schiff may encounter are his one-dimensionality and inexperience in politics. Schiff's newcomer status could hinder him, but he shouldn't have much trouble with intense media coverage, considering the attention he received when he was warning of the recession. If Schiff is able to draft a full platform on all of the issues, not just the housing crisis, he may very well have a chance.

For the moment, a Senate run is mostly speculative -- Schiff's campaign is only at the exploratory-committee stage. This hasn't hindered the development of a Schiff base online, though. If you want a glimpse at what Connecticut could be seeing in regards to political ads in the coming months, Schiff supporters have got that figured out.