Chris Dodd for President

Blogger and video blogger Tommy Christopher makes an in-depth case for Chris Dodd at AOL's Political Machine. He goes through Senator Dodd's issue statements on labor, health care, Iraq, energy, the Constitution, national service, education, and veterans and responds to each with analysis of why he sees Dodd taking the best position on the issue.

In the law, there's a thing called prima facie, on it's face. If a candidate's case is weak on it's face, i.e. their stated positions, there's no point in seeing if they can back those positions up. That's my premise, so let's take a look at Chris Dodd in his own words. I wish I'd had this idea earlier than this, but that's life, ain't it? Hopefully I'll get to do a bunch more of these. Once more, here's where my support of Senator Dodd began.

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With the exception of a limited training and counter-terrorism force, Dodd wants the U.S. out of Iraq. Period. I agree. Without starting a lengthy treatise on Iraq, I believe not only that the current downturn in violence is meaningless without political progress, and that the level of violence, while reduced, is still wholly unacceptable, but that it is a temporary situation. Without a political solution, the violence will increase. Key to our exit in Iraq is the rest of Dodd's foreign policy, which involves rebuilding our alliances around the world, and pressing allies like Saudi Arabia for democratic reform....After reading all of Dodd's positions, (I omitted several for "brevity"), I get a picture of a veteran progressive who wants to build with the bricks we have now. While his policy ambitions are significant, his plans for executing them are pretty traditional.

Based solely on the substance, I'd say Chris Dodd is a very good candidate. Based on his actions on FISA, which indicate that when he brings it, it gets brung, Chris Dodd gets my vote. Enough votes for Dodd might teach the rest of the Democrats the value of Courage.

One the issues. On experience. On a career of getting results for America - Chris Dodd is the best person to lead our country in 2009.

Stephen Kuusito of Planet of the Blind endorsed Chris Dodd for President yesterday. Stephen's an Iowan and he'll be caucusing for Chris Dodd on Thursday, January 3rd.

I have decided to go to the Iowa Caucus and stand for Senator Chris Dodd...
1. He’s the most "presidential" of all the candidates regardless of party affiliation.

2. He has a sister who is blind; he knows why the ADA Restoration Act is crucial for PWDs [Persons With Disabilities].

3. He has the most foreign policy experience.

4. He knows where foreign countries "are" even when you turn the globe.

5. He has a great record of working in a true bi-partisan manner to get important social programs passed.

6. He gave up campaigning for three days to return to the senate and fight for the restoration of our Bill of Rights.

As they say in the vernacular: "’Nuff Said."

Thanks so much for your support Stephen.

For those that haven't read him before, Planet of the Blind is a fantastically well-written and thoughtful disability rights blog. I highly recommend you give it a read.

I'm very happy to let everyone know that Mike Caulfield, one of the founders of Blue Hampshire, has endorsed Chris Dodd for President. Dean Barker, another Blue Hampshire co-founder, endorsed Senator Dodd in early September.

While Senator Dodd has been able to accumulate a great number of endorsements from a wide range of bloggers, Caulfield takes a very unique approach in writing his endorsement. Caulfield goes back over the course of Senator Dodd's twenty-six year tenure in the Senate and quotes news articles telling of Dodd's principled, progressive leadership in the face of adversity that produced real, meaningful change. Caulfield brings us back to Dodd's leadership in helping bring peace in Latin America and Northern Ireland, to standing up to the Reagan administration's bellicose foreign policy, to fighting tirelessly to pass the Family & Medical Leave Act, to managing the passage of McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform, and more.

After spanning an inspiring range of stories about Chris Dodd, Caulfield writes about why he think Chris Dodd should be our President:

Dodd entered the Senate the very year the conservative movement arrived to dismantle the the progressive dream wholesale. Yet in that environment, in the 25 year period that will go down as the Conservative Era, he found ways to expand and extend that progressive dream.

Sometimes it was by getting on TV and telling the truth, no matter how offensive the civilized members of his party may have found it.

Sometimes is was through thoughtful negotiation with enemies. Other times it was through skillful navigation of complex rules of parliamentary procedure. Sometimes it was a late evening bulldozer push. And yes, sometimes it was about waiting to the 17th hole of golf to bring up the question of Gerry Adams's visa.

But it was always about how to get things done.

I've seen this on the campaign. Confronted with any new tool, the first question that occurs to Team Dodd is not "Can we use this for marketing?" but "How can we use this to advance our progressive agenda?"

So while Hillary took online suggestions for a campaign song, Dodd took online suggestions for filibuster reading material. While Obama built up his MySpace account, Dodd and his team built tools to route anti-FISA calls to Senators. While other campaigns invited bloggers to phone calls where the latest talking points were recycled, Dodd invited us into war-room like sessions where the strategy for cutting war funding was discussed and explained.

Personally, I believe we are at a 1932 moment in history. The last gasp of the Reaganism that tainted even the Clinton administration is being played out on that Republican debate stage. After November, they will sweep the remains of that grand movement into the dustbin of history.

You could choose those that stood back, and waited until history was on their side before they moved bold agendas forward. You could hope that their theories of change were correct.

Or you could choose the person, who, against all odds, advanced the progressive agenda through every means at his disposal.

I've seen Dodd sailing against the wind and been amazed. I can only imagine what he will do with the wind at his back.

Please join me in supporting Chris Dodd.

His readers will be able to look at this and see with utmost clarity why he stands with Chris Dodd.

Frankly, I cannot imagine a more ringing endorsement of a candidate who is basing his run on a career of leadership that got the job done than one in which the author sees results as the true test of the value of a person's words. I'm impressed that Mike - like many New Hampshire voters and astute political commentators - isn't content to decide who he will be voting for based on the coverage we're seeing about rhetoric being bandied about today. Instead he looks at Dodd's full record and measures the other Democratic candidates against it.

One of the themes that Caulfield brings out most convincingly is that Chris Dodd didn't just find out what he believes in when he started running for President. He didn't gain his voice when handed the microphone of a presidential candidacy - he's always had the courage to speak out on principle. He doesn't measure his experience by the resumes of the people advising him on policy - he helped shape the course of our country over twenty-six years in the Senate. He has consistently produced results that Democrats can be proud of.

As Mike writes, "I've seen Dodd sailing against the wind and been amazed. I can only imagine what he will do with the wind at his back."

Thank you for your support Mike! With your help and the help of countless others, we will see Chris Dodd in the White House in January 2009.

This just in:

IOWA CITY COUNCILMAN MATT HAYEK ENDORSES CHRIS DODD FOR PRESIDENT
Rising Star Community Leader Cites Dodd’s Ability to Produce Results, Calls Dodd “Most Electable and the Best Qualified”

IOWA CITY – City Councilman Matt Hayek, a rising star in the community leadership of Iowa City, announced last night that he is endorsing Chris Dodd for President. Hayek cited Dodd’s ability to produce results, international experience, and electability in a speech introducing Senator Dodd at a holiday party in Iowa City.

“Once every four years, we get to go into a gymnasium or a church or someplace and vote our conscience,” said Hayek. “And you go in there, and you look at all the candidates you could support, and hopefully by then you’ve made a decision to go with the person you think is the most electable and the best qualified for the job, and you vote with your heart and your mind. And my conscience leads me to Chris Dodd, and that’s why I stand before you today.”

Hayek is a sixth-generation Iowa City native and, like Senator Dodd, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. Hayek served for two years in the mountains of Bolivia. He praised Dodd’s international experience and reputation.

“Whether it’s brokering peace accords in Central America, helping bring about peace in Northern Ireland, or working with various parties in the Middle East, he’s done it,” Hayek said. “He’s been there, he’s done it. He’s been a leader. He’s highly respected across the globe within these leadership positions and in the Congress itself. He’s respected, and I think that’s what appeals to me most.”

Hayek also praised Dodd’s leadership on restoring American security by restoring the Constitution and the rule of law here at home.

Congressman Sam Farr of California had a post on The Hill's Congress Blog yesterday in which he wrote about why he supports Chris Dodd and how his service in the Peace Corps has prepared him to lead the country. It's a relatively short piece, but Rep. Farr makes such a great case for Chris Dodd that I'm reprinting it in full below:

I have known Chris Dodd for 30-some years and share a special bond with him: we both served in the Peace Corps. For me, and I believe for Chris too, the Peace Corps was the most life-affirming experience we have ever had. It was there that we discovered how strong we could be as we faced daunting third-world environments. It was there that we learned how sensitive we are to the needs of people and how deep our desire to serve. It was there that we came to know that a life of service was our calling.

As I watch my friend Chris – now Senator Dodd – I realize that he has never wavered from that original Peace Corps mission. He is still dedicated to people and their basic needs. He wants to improve the condition of man. And he cares very, very deeply for preserving the face of America around the world as a beacon of democracy and justice.

Chris does this not for himself, but for the American people, the people he loves more dearly than himself. For Chris, it’s all about serving.

I can think of no one better suited to lead America. Chris Dodd is a man of principle, a man of the people, a man of the Peace Corps. That’s enough for me.

Speaking of national service, this would be a good time for those not familiar with it to read Senator Dodd's American Community Initiative, a plan for universal national service and a call for a new American patriotism. Here's the video of Senator Dodd's national service speech on the steps of city hall in Nashua, NH - the exact same place where John F. Kennedy held his first campaign event in 1960.