Chris Dodd for President

Again, I'm going to be posting video from this weekend throughout the day today. Here's Jackie Clegg Dodd introducing Senator Dodd at the Utah Democratic Party Convention in Salt Lake this past Saturday.

For more on the Utah convention, check out this post.

Senator Dodd spoke at the Utah Democratic Party Convention Saturday morning in Salt Lake City. With a crowd of over 900 delegates -- and almost 1500 people in all -- the Utah Party demonstrated it's strong resurgence statewide. Jackie Dodd, a Utah native, introduced her husband. She recounted how they met in Utah, skiing in Park City and what it's been like to have her family with Chris, Grace, and Christina grow real ties to Utah as a second home. Senator Dodd's remarks added to the living history of his relationship with Utah, particularly winning over Jackie's largely Republican family. Dodd spoke about why he's running for president and his plan to end the war in Iraq, along with providing the leadership, experience, and hope that America needs to meet the challenges facing us today. The crowd of Utah Dems repeatedly rose in ovation for Dodd's Iraq plan -- showing their support for Senator Dodd's bold leadership to start withdrawing our troops immediately and having a time certain to get out of Iraq. One moment that will stay with me from this speech was when Senator Dodd told the story of conversations he had with Brian Freeman, an American serving in Iraq. Freeman candidly shared his experiences helping the Iraqi people with Senator Dodd on a trip to Iraq this past December. He told Dodd about the challenges we faced, but also the good work that he and his men were doing. Tragically, on the same day that Freeman helped secure a visa for an Iraqi child to come to America to receive medical care, he and four of his men were killed in Iraq. That was this past January. Today, Charlotte Freeman - Brian's widow - as well as Gunner and Ingrid, Brian's children, and his mother Kathy were all in attendance. Kathy is a Utah native. As Senator Dodd told Brian's story, the audience rose and paid respects for his service, thanking his family and remembering his heroic work. I'm glad that I can say that Senator Dodd is working to safely redeploy our troops home so more American families won't have to suffer the loss of their husbands and wives, sons and daughters, neighbors and friends. He has the conviction needed to bring the war to an end and I'm proud to help him in that endeavor. I'll have pictures and videos up as soon as possible