MORE HOME-STATE PRESSURE ON CHRIS DODD:

Simmons took a decidedly different tone when discussing Dodd. Calling the senator only “the incumbent,” he suggested that Dodd had upset his constituents by “moving to Iowa” during his ill-fated bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

He also hinted that Dodd was guilty of what he said the military would call “dereliction of duty” by brokering the 1999 repeal of a key New Deal law that regulated the financial services industry.

Reminded that the primary sponsor of that measure was former Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, Simmons said, “And where’s he?”

Asked if he considered Dodd politically vulnerable, Simmons responded by pulling out a copy of a newspaper editorial cartoon about Dodd’s controversial mortgages obtained under a “VIP” program at Countrywide Financial.

“The funny pages are not a good place to be,” he said.

The Dodd story’s not so funny.