Chris Dodd for President

Do you still need a good Halloween costume? Well why not go as the next President of the United States?

Required Materials and Instructions for the Chris Dodd Halloween Costume:

White Hair - Use hair color to turn your hair into a bright white just like Chris Dodd's.

The white hair represents the seven years and two presidential vetoes that Chris Dodd had to work through to pass the Family and Medical Leave Act. It also represents the 26 years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where Chris Dodd has been involved in every major foreign policy decision over the last quarter century. A fluent Spanish speaker, Dodd personally met with world leaders to help resolve conflicts in Latin America. In addition, he worked closely with Senator Ted Kennedy and President Bill Clinton to help facilitate the Good Friday Peace Accords that brought peace to Northern Ireland.

A Passion for Service

As a young man, inspired by President Kennedy, Chris Dodd joined the Peace Corps in 1966 and served for two years working in a rural village in the Dominican Republic, where he became fluent in Spanish, before going on to serve his nation in the National Guard and Army Reserves.

A copy of the Constitution

Chris Dodd carries a copy of the constitution with him everyday. As a Senator he has fought tirelessly to restore the constitution and roll back the Bush Administration assault on the rule of law. As President, the first thing he will do in January 2009 is restore the constitution, restore the rights of Habeus Corpus, and restore America's Moral Authority.

A folder with literature about Dodd's bold ideas

Whether the issue is Iraq, restoring America's standing in the world, driving down health care costs, fixing our schools, or building an economy that works for all Americans, Chris Dodd is offering bold, innovative ideas because he knows half-measures won't get the job done.

A few of Dodd's bold ideas to mention:
A corporate carbon tax that would punish polluters and spur the innovation of environmentally friendly technology.

Free community college for all Americans.

The American Community Initiative - a comprehensive national service plan that will draw upon the very best of our character to call Americans to service.

Via PeaceCorpsConnect, we learn that the Senate has approved an amendment authored by Senator Dodd for a $10 million funding increase for the Peace Corps.

We are happy to report that last night the Senate approved an amendment to the State/Foreign Operations Appropriations bill to increase the Peace Corps appropriation for Fiscal Year 2008 by $10 Million. This raises the Senate funding recommendation for Peace Corps to $333.5 Million - the same funding level approved earlier by the House of Representatives.

The Senate amendment was sponsored by Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT; Dominican Republic 66-68) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). To offset the Peace Corps increase, the amendment included a recommendation suggested by the NPCA to reduce $10 Million in unobligated funds used for foreign military finance programs.

Chris Dodd served in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic from 1966 to 1968. He's proposed doubling the size of the Peace Corps by 2011 and again by 2050. His American Community Initiative a comprehensive national service plan that will draw upon the very best of our character to call Americans to service.

Here's a bit of video from the community service event that took place in Nashua, NH on Saturday following Senator Dodd's speech on the steps of the Nashua Town Hall on the American Community Initiative. Senator Dodd and the volunteers painted murals that will be displayed in the Nashua schools.

In my travels with Senator Dodd I've heard him talk about his time in the Peace Corps a lot. Around kitchen tables and in back yards of New Hampshire and Iowa, Senator Dodd tells people why he joined the Peace Corps: because an American President asked. John F. Kennedy reached out to a generation of Americans and a generation answered his call. They joined the Peace Corps. They joined VISTA, the Department of Justice, worked for civil rights, and served in the military. They were united in purpose of making America a better place and raising our standing in the world to reflect the dignity that our nation held. Despite hearing Senator Dodd talk about the source of his impetus for entry into the Peace Corps many times, the story has always sounded foreign to me. As a twenty-five year old Gen Yer (or am I a "Millennial"?) I can say with certainty that the same culture that JFK set when he famously uttered the words "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country" does not currently exist in American political sentiment, at least not in the scale as forty-six years ago. The idea of Americans being asked by our President to serve our country -- not just shop -- by standing up and contributing time and energy to making this country and our world a better place simply is absent from the political culture that I have grown up in. And that is a tragedy. America is at its best when Americans work together. Our country's standing in the world is improved when Americans go beyond our borders to help Senator Dodd understands this and his American Community Initiative asks the question that my generation, at least, has not been asked. Serving our country and coming together in our communities may not be something that sits at the top of most people's laundry lists of issues (my personal one, for those interested readers: ending the Iraq War, restoring the Constitution, and making sure every American has health care). But that does not mean that the need doesn't exist. It also shows what kind of leader Chris Dodd is and will be as President. So far he has taken a firm, clear stand on ending the war, he’s the only candidate to call for a corporate carbon tax, and now he’s called for mandatory national and community service for high school students. It’s clear to me that Chris Dodd is the only candidate that is speaking with honesty about the problems we face and has the conviction to do what needs to be done to meet those challenges. I hope that there continues to be a debate about Senator Dodd's national service plan. We need this conversation to continue. But I think the best way for this vision of a renewed American patriotism to be realized is for Senator Dodd to be elected President in November 2008.

Speaking of coverage of Senator Dodd's American Community Initiative for universal national service, Jerid was at the event on Saturday, and put up a few posts on it. You can read them here and here. Mike Caulfield of Blue Hampshire was also in attendance and his reaction to the Dodd national service plan was very positive. This was Caulfield's second time seeing Senator Dodd roll out a major policy initiative -- the first being on Earth Day when Senator Dodd rolled out his bold energy policy. Caulfield thinks Dodd is leading the ideas race:

Neither of these positions are likely to endear him to voters. The public is not clamoring for a carbon tax or for mandatory public service. But in both cases he's shown the essence of leadership, and focused on the core issues. The price of fuel should reflect the cost to our national security and our environment. And an American education should reflect our national values. Hard medicine for some, to be sure. But good policy.

As far as bloggers in absentia, Jonathan Singer of MyDD,Spazeboy, and tparty of My Left Nutmeg all have great commentary on the need, scope, and ambition of the Dodd service plan.