Chris Dodd for President

Due to my extensive travels from coast to coast over the weekend - including a lot of time in parts of New Hampshire that didn't have great internet or cell phone service - I haven't been able to update you on the blog coverage of Senator Dodd's travels in Nevada, Utah, and New Hampshire. Dean Barker of Blue Hampshire has been impressed by the Dodd campaign so far.

Dodd has by far been the biggest surprise for me this year. While I remain undecided, he is high on the list. He's progressive and he's leveraging his candidacy well with his senate seat to hasten the end of this war now. He's also got a bold energy plan, and isn't afraid to say "carbon tax." Some people like to judge a candidate by the campaign he keeps. To those who do so, it's gotta be Dodd by a mile. He does so much more with so much less free press and money. His rapid response on local NH issues is better than the big three, and he's got the hardest working online team going, one moreover that understands the netroots because they come from it. If we lived in a world without 24/7 infotainment news channels, and one where Time magazine doesn't resemble People, would Dodd be the front runner right now?

Steve Freiss of Nevada Today has a write-up of Dodd's talk in Las Vegas at the opening of the campaign office in Las Vegas. Freiss liked the Senator's talk, "He offered soaring rhetoric about encouraging volunteerism and national sacrifice, about restoring “American prestige” around the world, about becoming great global citizens again." Blogger Bryan Bissell was in attendance on Monday at Senator Dodd's talk to the Sierra Club in Concord, New Hampshire. Bissel encapsulated Senator Dodd's point about how voters in New Hampshire are in an important position and have an important responsibility, "More importantly, Dodd told the crowd to demand answers. Don't let the other candidates simply re-state the goals that we all agree with, like becoming more energy independent and reducing greenhouse gases." On a side note, Bissell and I graduated from Wesleyan University together in 2004. It was great to see him on the road and covering the election on his blog Quabbin Quontry Queries. Go give his site a read. Brian Kramer of Caucus for Priorities has posted an account of his time playing baseball with Senator Dodd on the Field of Dreams in Iowa. Shorter version: It was fun! Lastly, Arianna Huffington of The Huffington Post was on MSNBC yesterday morning, praising Senator Dodd for his leadership to end the Iraq war.

“My question now is which of these democrats is going to provide more leadership in getting us out of Iraq. That's really what I'm looking for. So far, you know, Senator Dodd has a plan which is the most thorough plan for getting us out, with very clear time lines and deadlines. And that's really what Democrats need to be looking for now – very, very specific plans from the Democratic candidates for getting us out. And leadership, real leadership in exerting every influence they can to get us out.”

You can watch the video of Huffington's appearance here.

MoveOn was nice enough to allow our cameras to follow Senator Dodd behind-the-scenes for the filming of his segment in their virtual town hall on climate change. The event will air July 7th, but here's a quick peak at what it looked like before the shoot. Check out Senator Dodd's plan for energy independence, which includes instituting a Corporate Carbon Tax and eliminating our dependence on Middle East oil by 2015.