President Obama stands with then-Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal during a rally for Blumenthal’s Senate campaign at the Arena at Harbor Yard in downtown Bridgeport, Conn., on Saturday October 30, 2010. Staff photo by Christian Abraham.
Connecticut’s junior and soon-to-be senior U.S. senator is mum about being on the potential short list of successors to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
The usually loquacious Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat in his first term in the Senate, had no comment on a Fox News Report linking him to the Cabinet post when reached Wednesday by Hearst Newspapers.
Blumenthal served for 20 years as Connecticut’s attorney general before coming off the bench in 2010 to run for the seat of fellow Democrat Christopher Dodd, who retired and is now the head of the Motion Picture Association of America.
A sound bite machine who was known for being an activist attorney general and loyalist to President Obama on issues such as the Affordable Care Act, Blumenthal stood next to Holder at the 10th anniversary observance of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks at Ground Zero.
Holder is expected to stay on as AG for only one year in Obama’s second term.
UPDATE:
Within an hour of our original blog post, Blumenthal reached out to Hearst Newspapers to quash speculation that he’s eyeing the AG job.
“I have no plans to be attorney general of the United States,” Blumenthal said. “I’m happy in the job I have now. I’m gratified and grateful that the people of Connecticut have elected me to serve them.”
Blumenthal declined further comment when asked if he was shutting the door completely to the opportunity.