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.

Senator Chris Dodd today released the following statement congratulating Al Gore on his Nobel Peace Prize.

"I want to extend my heartfelt congratulations to my friend and former colleague Al Gore, on being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. As today's announcement confirms, reversing the effects of global warming is an issue of global justice and security. Al's tireless efforts to increase awareness of the threats of global warming have provided a powerful voice telling the world that we need to act now.

"I share Al's conviction that it will take bold leadership to turn back the clock on global warming. I am committed to a carbon tax in order to make it more expensive for corporate polluters to produce harmful emissions while simultaneously making historic investments in the research and development of renewable technologies."

You can read Chris Dodd's energy plan here.

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.

Amanda Griscom Little has an interview of Senator Dodd on the environment and global warming up in Salon today. Here's a clip of the interview on Dodd's corporate carbon tax plan:

You are the only candidate calling for a carbon tax -- a proposal that some consider political suicide, because you can't make taxes appeal to voters. What are you hearing on the campaign trail about this?

The American people handle the truth very, very well. What they don't handle well is people in public life promising results without talking about what has to be done to get those results.

We're talking about a corporate carbon tax that would generate $50 billion a year, with the likely cost passed on to consumers being about 10 cents per gallon of gasoline. My argument is, yeah, this is not inexpensive, but look what's happening to prices today, under the status quo. Gasoline is about $3 a gallon on average across the country. Many think it's going to go to $4 or $4.50 a gallon later this summer. So prices are going up a lot more than the 10 cents a gallon we're talking about.

Even if your prices were not going up that high, we spend about $300 billion a year to purchase fossil fuels offshore. About $100 billion goes to countries who are very hostile to our interests. So the status quo is both dangerous and costly.

Do you have any anecdotes from the campaign trail where you talk to voters about this and they say, "Hey, I get it"?

Yeah, they do. It takes you more than a bumper sticker to say it, so if you're looking for bumper stickers I don't have one yet for you. But I'm finding a very strong reaction to it. People are recognizing that this makes sense from a health standpoint, an environmental standpoint, a national security standpoint, a job creation standpoint.

How will the revenues of your proposed carbon tax be spent?

They'll be placed into a Corporate Carbon Tax Trust Fund to fund fast-tracked research, development and deployment of renewable technologies such as wind, solar, ethanol and other biofuels. It will also expedite the process for bringing energy-efficient technologies to market and ensure energy-efficient products such as bulbs and household appliances are price competitive, and it will offer tax credits on hybrids and other clean and efficient automobiles to make these cars affordable for all Americans. Being wealthy should not be a prerequisite to living green.

Earlier this week the Dodd campaign's offices in DC and Connecticut, as well as the early primary states, went carbon neutral. We're carrying through on our earlier commitment to make our campaign carbon neutral. We've teamed up with CarbonFund, who will be providing our carbon offsets. Senator Dodd said:

All Americans have a role to play in securing our energy independence, and I'm excited that our campaign will do its part. We must all do our share to begin turning the clock back on global warming and reducing our carbon footprint will go along way in stopping global climate change.

CarbonFund is a leader in the fight against climate change and works with individuals as well as business and organizations to help eliminate their climate impact. We at the Dodd campaign are excited to be doing our part to run green offices. Until we have leadership that will enact bold changes in America's energy policy, as Senator Dodd has proposed, the onus is on us to do what we can to limit the growth of global warming. In addition to purchasing carbon offsets, we also have an aggressive recycling program to ensure that as little waste goes to the landfill as possible. Chris Dodd’s bold energy plan is setting the standard in the presidential race. With 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.