Chris Dodd for President

Last night Senator Dodd spoke to 2,000 union members at the Hawkeye Labor Council Presidential Forum in Cedar Rapids. Dodd was fired up talking about his life-long support for labor -- support that has been returned to him by unions along the way. The Gazette Online reports, "Dodd went beyond the other candidates' support for legislating an Employees Free Choice Act by pledging to enact it by executive order to make it easier for workers to join a union. He also supported passage of fair-share legislation in Iowa." Watch Dodd's speech:

The SEIU has produced a video on Senator Dodd's "Walk A Day in Our Shoes" visit to the Colleen Mehaffey's Head Start classroom in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Watch it below:

Chris Dodd talks about his experience visiting a Head Start classroom, as well as the value and need for continuing to keep Head Start programs well-funded nation-wide.

This morning Senator Dodd joined Colleen Mehaffey of Cedar Rapids, Iowa to walk a day in her shoes. Colleen is a teach at Urban Head Start -- every day she gets up at 6:30 AM to get to work by 7:15. Her class of 14-20 three and four year-olds (size varies depending on the time of year) arrives between 7:30 and 9:00. Today the kids ate breakfast, shucked corn, churned butter, and wrote in their journals -- all before lunch time. Walk A Day is facilitated by the SEIU, as Colleen and her coworkers at Head Start are all SEIU members. Walking a day in her shoes allows presidential candidates like Senator Dodd to have a chance to see what a woman like Colleen goes through on a typical day. For most candidates who take part in this program, the hope is that seeing how funding from Washington effects working Americans and their children will impart on them a sound belief as to why it's critically important to keep programs like Head Start well funded. Colleen was happy to learn that Senator Dodd is already a strong supporter of Head Start. For nearly 20 years, Chris Dodd has worked to expand access to the Head Start program, to ensure that it is fully funded, and to constantly seek new and innovative strategies to improve the program, including facilitating collaboration between Head Start and other early childhood development programs. For his efforts, the National Head Start Association named him “Senator of the Decade.” Senator Dodd talking with Colleen Mehaffey Breakfast time at Head Start: "Kid tested, Senator Approved" Reading to the kids