Chris Dodd for President

Following Senator Dodd's time at Google yesterday, he was interviewed by YouTube's Steve Grove.

I particularly like the "Constitutional or not?" flash round of questions.

Senator Dodd's question on what the Republican presidential candidates would do to protect the Constitution was not asked in last night's CNN/YouTube debate. But, famed Republican anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist -- best known for his desire to shrink the US government to a size where it can be "drowned in a bath tub" -- did get air time on CNN to ask the Republican candidates to flatly pledge to never, ever, ever raise a tax.

I want to point out two pieces of analysis that run similar to each other of Senator Dodd's YouTube question for the Republican presidential debate. First, from the New York Times' Caucus Blog, Ariel Alexovich thinks Dodd's question won't be asked:

CNN and YouTube want to keep the focus away from Democratic talking points, and anyway, the senator is too famous.

Recently the Caucus Blog also reported CNN's Washington bureau chief David Bohrman saying this about what will and will not get asked in the GOP YouTube debate:

Most questions online have been pulled from public viewing for review, but many of the remaining posts involve asking the candidates to defend their opposition to gay marriage and abortion. Those kinds of "lobbying grenades" would be disqualified by the CNN selection team, Mr. Bohrman said.

"There are quite a few things you might describe as Democratic `gotchas,' and we are weeding those out," Mr. Bohrman said. CNN wants to ensure that next Wednesday's Republican event is "a debate of their party."

Now I can't say that Senator Dodd asked his question about protecting the Constitution because we were guaranteed that it would be asked in the debate. Far from it - it was recorded and submitted in the exact same fashion as every one of the other 5,000 or so videos that were submitted.

But I disagree wholeheartedly that Dodd's question should be rejected because it contains "Democratic talking points." Here's Dodd's two-part question:

Many Americans are concerned that the administration seems to be making a false choice, that is, to be safer we have to give up rights. I don't believe that, I wonder if you do.

And if you believe that we ought not give up our rights, then what would you do in order to protect our Constitution?

The questions are prefaced with a factual statement - "Many Americans are concerned that the administration seems to be making a false choice, that is, to be safer we have to give up rights." I've heard countless Americans ask Senator Dodd about this in person - I'd say practically every campaign event I've been at includes this question in some form or another. This is hardly a talking point, unless you subscribe to Stephen Colbert's contention that "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."

The Constitution is an important issue that merits attention. It is non-partisan and it should be treated as such. Dodd's questions are thoughtful and earnest, not to mention timely and critical questions that will tell us a great deal about a group of people who would like to be our next President. Dodd goes so far as to pose a follow-up question based on the premise that some of the Republican candidates will agree with him that "we ought not give up our rights."

Now the question of celebrity certainly is a relevant one. But if CNN doesn't want to ask a question about the Constitution posed by Chris Dodd, might I suggest the following questions that were submitted for YouChoose08.

• Is the Constitution important anymore? by KennethMelvin
• Is the Constitution another piece of paper? by Rho48
• War and the Constitution by jab2ur
• Restore Constitution Integrity by PoliticsAI2008

The bottom line is that the American people deserve to hear the presidential candidates of both parties engage in a serious and thoughtful discussion of the US Constitution and the rule of law. Senator Dodd has been talking about these issues throughout his campaign and now he's using the opportunity afforded to him through the YouTube debate to try to expand this discussion to the Republican presidential candidates. I hope that CNN takes the opportunity provided by Senator Dodd's question, or one of the questions linked above, to ask the Republican presidential candidates what they will do to protect the Constitution.

This Wednesday at 8PM Eastern, the Republican Presidential candidates will be holding their own YouTube debate. Similar to the Democratic version in South Carolina in July, the candidates will be asked questions via YouTube videos. YouTube accepted thousands of videos and those submissions will be winnowed down to a handful that are presented as questions for the GOP. Senator Dodd jumped on the opportunity to ask the Republican field a question about the issue that matters most to him: protecting our Constitution.

Here's a transcript of Dodd's question:

Hi I'm Chris Dodd. I'm from East Haddam, Connecticut and my family and I are spending a little time in Iowa these days.

I have a question about the Constitution.

Many Americans are concerned that the administration seems to be making a false choice, that is, to be safer we have to give up rights. I don't believe that, I wonder if you do.

And if you believe that we ought not give up our rights, then what would you do in order to protect our Constitution?

It's up to CNN to pick which questions are asked, but what would help them see it is if you take the time to give it a good recommendation, leave a positive comment, share it with your friends, or add it to your favorite videos. If you have a blog, post it. The time to ask your own questions of the Republican field has expired, now it's time to push the best videos to the top and get the Republican candidates on record about what they will do to protect our Constitution.

Jamison Foser of Media Matters recently documented the lack of discussion of the Constitution and rule of law issues during both parties' presidential debates. With over 1,500 questions asked, there's been almost no focus on the most fundamental issue that the next President will have to deal with. Senator Dodd is hoping to change that by asking the Republican field what they will do to protect the Constitution. I hope they get a chance to answer Dodd's important question.

After Monday night's CNN/YouTube debate, Senator Dodd was interviewed by one of YouTube's most well-known video bloggers, James Kotecki. In the interview, Dodd answers questions about the debate format and how his campaign is using internet video technologies to reach wider and wider audiences outside of the early primary states.