Dodd: 'Toughest Political Shape of My Career'

Sen. Chris Dodd, saying he was in "the toughest political shape" of his career, made it official today and announced that he won't run for re-election in November. Speaking outside his home in East Haddam, Conn., Dodd says he's had a tough year. "I lost a beloved sister in July and, in August, Ted Kennedy. I battled cancer over the summer, and in the midst of all of this, found myself in the toughest political shape of my career."

Dodd, who ABC News notes is expected to remain chairman of the powerful Senate banking panel until the end of his term, said he thought everything over at Kennedy's graveside on Christmas Eve. "Together these challenges have given me pause to take stock and to ask questions that too few of us in elected public life ever do: Why am I running?" (More Chris Dodd retiring stories.)