Is Dodd A Dud?

Enough about Hillary and Obama, let’s move onto the new Democratic candidate, Chris Dodd. On March 12, 2007, Dodd appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Dodd said he had to make a serious announcement…. that he’s “here tonight.” Excuse me? I’ll admit I was shocked to hear this, but just minutes later Jon Stewart took it upon himself to announce that Chris Dodd is in fact running for President in 2008.

I don’t feel that The Daily Show on Comedy Central was the best choice for making his presidential candidacy announcement. Especially knowing that the past three candidates that announced on The Daily Show dropped out of the campaign weeks after appearing on the program. Hopefully Dodd won’t follow in the footsteps of his predecessors.

Dodd joked frequently during his five minute appearance. He compared the 2008 Presidential Election to American Idol. Even though Dodd may have seemed down to earth with his humorous remarks, does he know when it’s time to be serious, too? After all, he is running for president.

Moving onto a more serious note, Jon Stewart did take a moment to find out some of Dodd’s credentials. Dodd has been in the Senate for twenty-six years representing the state of Connecticut. He also spent over a decade helping to make the Family and Medical Leave Act. His focus is on children and making sure that the world they will be living in when they grow up will be a good one. Some examples of his focus on children are, being named “Senator of the Decade” by the National Head Start Association in recognition of his support for early childhood education. He has also offered legislation to amend the No Child Left Behind law in order to make the law work better for America’s children. Jon Stewart referred to Dodd as the “resume candidate” for having impressive experience in comparison to his competitors.

Despite Dodd’s age (he will be 63 in May), he is a first-time father. His website depicts photographs of he and his wife with his daughter. On his website, he comes across as a family man. He seems to put a lot of emphasis upon being a first-time father and I think that his work in the senate focusing on children stems from that.

Although Dodd has not been heard from much yet, now that he has officially announced, he is hoping to be more in the spotlight as his Democratic competitors have been. Dodd said he respects both Hillary and Obama, but “You can’t expect to tear each other apart and win the election.” Dodd has focused his campaigning in mostly Iowa and New Hampshire, but now that he is officially running, will spread out his appearances more.

The question that this leaves us with is, “Is Chris Dodd a viable candidate for the 2008 Presidential election?” I’m not too sure. What we do know is he is up against two strong contenders for the Democratic nominee who have already been campaigning and building support for over a month. He has the experience, even more so than Hillary and Obama. Yet, is he cut out to be our next president? Appearing for five minutes on The Daily Show to officially announce on a program filled with anything but seriousness and allowing Jon Stewart to actually make the important announcement doesn’t signal a strong start. Right now, it’s not looking too good for Senator Chris Dodd. He definitely has some catching up to do as far as the campaign is concerned, but in time I hope we will hear more from Dodd’s serious side and be able to see him more as a competitive presidential candidate.

Laura Nowicki

Communication Studies Major ‘07