VOTE DODD IN '08--I'M THE ONE WHO DIDN'T DROWN ANYONE!:

Dodd's Quest: A Long Haul: White House Run To Test All Of Senator's Skills (DAVID LIGHTMAN, January 16 2007, Hartford Courant)
Blockquote>It was a vintage Chris Dodd moment, that morning last summer in Fort Lauderdale, one that could, perhaps, put the shot in long shot.

The Connecticut senator had addressed a small group at the Florida Democratic State Convention. Dodd didn't dominate the event, but that didn't matter. He just kept shaking hands in the cavernous convention center.

"Where's he from? Vermont?" party activist David Dew whispered, as the Connecticut senator addressed a small lunchtime group.

Leaving his hotel later, Dodd walked with an aide through a lobby swarming with people who didn't recognize him.

A car waited outside to take him to the airport - but wait a minute! Dodd dashed back into the gift shop to talk to the woman behind the racks of suntan lotion, gum and Gold Hyatt logo items. He then stopped at the reception desk to ask the two clerks who they were and, by the way, did they have any concerns; anything they wanted to discuss? Even as he walked out the door, he was reaching out, making friends, chatting with the bellman, soaking up information, even as his aide kept glancing at his watch.

The Connecticut senator will need all of that effortless charm, that eagerness to engage people and that passion for Democratic causes as he launches his campaign for the nation's highest office.

Conventional wisdom says the 62-year-old senator is a second-tier candidate for the presidency. He barely registers 1 percent in most polls, when he registers at all.

Many political observers have deep doubts about Dodd's candidacy. They say he may not be able to raise the enormous amount of money he'll need. They say that he's a New England liberal and that he can't distinguish himself and his views from better-known candidates.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 16, 2007 12:01 AM