Chris Dodd for President

Phone banking for Dodd

Organizing for the caucus

I took this picture inside our phone banking room in the Des Moines HQ. Amidst copies of the Des Moines Register, call logs, talking points, fact sheets of Chris Dodd's record of results and lots of empty coffee cups, I saw a print out of Blue Hampshire co-founder Mike Caulfield's endorsement post.

People often ask what the value of blogger endorsements is and I think this is evidence of it. Mike's argument in support of Chris Dodd, like that made by many other bloggers, is a thoughtful presentation of why Democrats should support Dodd's candidacy. It's exactly the sort of thing that volunteers and field staff find useful when talking to voters here in Iowa. Beyond that, it's great to have the encouragement of someone writing outside the campaign to pick you up in the midst of a long phone banking session.

Today, I'm heading on the road to cover Senator Dodd's events in Waterloo at one of my favorite restaurants in all of Iowa, Steamboat Gardens. From there, I'll head with the Senator to Dubuque for our campaign's New Year's Eve event.

I'll be staying on the road on New Year's Day to cover events in Cedar Rapids and a few other stops. I'll be posting videos and pictures from the road, as well as writing about the events as the Dodd campaign heads into the new year and towards the Iowa caucus on January 3rd.

Stay tuned for more updates from Iowa on the Dodd Blog.

Throughout the day today, the Des Moines Dodd headquarters has had a lot of energy directed towards painting, making and assembling signs for use in yards, at high traffic locations, and at rallies in the closing days of the Iowa caucus.

Here are some pictures of the hard work going into raising Chris Dodd's presence in Iowa:

Good bye, blue skies. Des Moines is under fog this morning. On the drive into the Des Moines campaign headquarters, we caught a red light a block from the office, though it was so buried by fog, we couldn't see it. Visibility has dropped to zero, though it's not discouraging our visibility efforts.

Today we're continuing to run major phonebanking operations out of our DSM HQ. Additionally we've distributed hundreds of mobile phones to our field offices around the state to use for "phone bank in a box" operations.

Senator Dodd will be holding events as part of the Caucus for Results tour in Le Mars, Emmettsburg, and Mason City

As we continue the mobilization for Chris Dodd in Iowa, the International Association of Fire Fighters continue to be a huge strength for our campaign. Here's a good stack of Fire Fighters for Dodd signs, ready go in yards around Iowa.

Four days to go before the caucus -- if you have the time to help, please visit http://chrisdodd.com/volunteer.

Though the day started with temperatures in the teens and cloud covering touching the tops of Des Moines' tallest buildings, it's turned into a beautiful, clear day in Iowa. Seeing the sun is a great feeling after two days of snow and gray skies. The weather hasn't held us back yet, though, and we're making sure we maximize every minute in the closing days of the Iowa caucus.

While Senator Dodd has been on the road today with stops in Denison, Carroll, and Sioux City, the campaign headquarters has been filled today with volunteers phone banking to make the case for Democrats here to caucus for Chris Dodd on January 3rd. We've also launched a door to door canvass in the Des Moines area to bring Dodd supporters face to face with the people who will bring our campaign to caucus success.

The work going on in this office today while the Senator is traveling around the state is a strong reminder of the tireless work going on in support of Chris Dodd. The collection of volunteers in the office today include fire fighters, Iowans who support longtime friends and family from Connecticut, and people who've known and worked with Chris Dodd for years.

Here are a few pictures from the phone banking this afternoon: