Chris Dodd for President

There is only one month left before the New Hampshire Presidential Primary on January 8, 2008.

Here are eight reasons to vote for Dodd in 08 on the 8th:

1) Ending the War in Iraq - Chris Dodd believes the time for giving President Bush blank checks is over and that we set a firm deadline tied to funding to begin safely redeploying U.S. combat troops out of Iraq, beginning immediately and completed within one year.

2) Restoring the Constitution - Chris Dodd will restore our Constitution on his first day during his first hour in the Oval Office. He would restore habeas corpus, close Guantanamo Bay, and require the US to live up to the Geneva Conventions.

3) Health Care - As President, Chris Dodd will offer high-quality universal health care to every American regardless of their job status, previous medical conditions or ability to pay. Dodd's plan ensures that all Americans will have quality, affordable health coverage by creating a health insurance marketplace called Universal HealthMart that is based on, and parallel to, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan. Insurance purchased in Universal HealthMart will follow individuals, not jobs ensuring that no one will lose their health care by changing jobs or moving to a different part of the country. Finally, the Dodd Health Care plan will phase in universal, affordable coverage to all Americans over the course of four years.

4) Global Warming - From a Corporate Carbon Tax that makes polluters pay to his call for historic fuel efficiency standards that break America's dependence on Middle East oil by 2015, Chris Dodd is the only candidate in the field with a plan to make America the world leader on climate change and bring energy costs down for families and businesses.

Environmental news blog Grist has a detailed look at how green the energy plans for Senator Dodd and John Edwards are in comparison. The specific area of concern is coal plants and how they deal with their emissions, which Grist author David Roberts say is crucial to the success of any environmental plan aiming to stop global warming.

One of the most meaningful steps the U.S. can take to fight climate change is to forbid construction of new coal plants unless they capture and sequester their carbon emissions. If we allow more dirty coal plants, all our other efforts will be in vain....Dem presidential candidate Chris Dodd has called for such a policy in blunt language: "The Dodd Plan requires all new plants to capture and sequester CO2. No exceptions."

Roberts puts Dodd's bold plan up side by side with John Edwards' and finds the former Senator from North Carolina's lacking.

Edwards would require that all new coal plants be compatible with sequestration -- that they be IGCC plants, which make CO2 easier to separate and bury -- but he would not require them to actually sequester their emissions.
...
So if President Edwards requires energy companies to build IGCC plants, he will have done very little to slow global warming. What he will have done is lock us into a policy path we've never rationally assessed or chosen.

If we do what Dodd advocates, we'll have at the very least an interlude of 5-10 years in which we can assess our options moving forward. We can compare the net costs of IGCC plants + sequestration with the cost of nuclear, renewables, efficiency, etc. We can choose the most rational allocation of our limited public capital, investing in the options that are cleanest and cheapest.

Again, if we immediately start building a bunch of IGCC plants, we will have irrevocably committed to CCS. We will have to make it work, no matter how much public money it costs. We'll be committing to a massive, nationwide, taxpayer-funded infrastructure project without ever deciding through open debate that it's the best use of our resources. We'll have done it because the coal industry and coal politicians told us that there's so much coal we "have to" use it -- even if it turns out to cost more than cleaner options.

If Edwards is serious about climate change, he will follow Dodd and support a ban on coal plants that don't have operating sequestration facilities. [Emphasis added]

Dodd's energy plan is the boldest plan that addresses all of the challenges facing America. That's why Al Gore has called the Dodd plan "Very creative" and Bill Bradley said "Chris Dodd gets it."

Learn more about the Dodd energy plan here.

Senator Dodd just released this statement:

"For the sake of both our economy and our national security, we must break our addiction to Middle East oil by investing in new, clean and reliable fuels we can cultivate right here using the ingenuity of the American worker. "This is not the time for half-measures and dancing around the edges. We need leadership that will act with honesty and conviction to do what needs to be done to meet this challenge. "By dramatically increasing fuel standards and enacting a Corporate Carbon Tax that would invest in alternative energy, the Dodd Energy Plan would break our addiction to Middle East oil and help make energy more affordable for our families."

The Dodd energy plan aims to reduce 80% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, raise fuel economy standards in automobiles to 50 mpg, and enact a Corporate Carbon Tax to discourage corporate pollution and stimulate innovation. Read the full fourteen point plan here. Former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley says, "Chris Dodd gets it, and his energy plan reflects the fact that we need honest and bold action if we are going to be serious about ending global warming." Sign up to support Senator Dodd's energy plan at http://ChrisDodd.com/energy_independence.

WASHINGTON, MAY 8th -- Former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley today became the latest to praise Senator Chris Dodd's comprehensive plan to begin to turn back the clock on global climate change and end American reliance on Middle East oil. "The only meaningful approaches to ending global warming include measures that would make it uneconomical to release greenhouse gases into the environment. These measures may be politically risky, but they are necessary," said Bradley.

Presidential Candidate to Present Bold Ideas, Real Solutions to the Energy Crisis

For Immediate Release April 16, 2007 WASHINGTON - Presidential Candidate Chris Dodd will call for a bold new direction for America's energy policy in a major address on Thursday, April 19. Senator Dodd, a proven leader with a demonstrated ability to bring people together, will outline his approach to energy, provide specific policy solutions that will improve quality of life, enhance the environment and strengthen America.