Dodd
Chris Dodd
From NBC/NJ’s Aswini Anburajan
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- With a silver head of hair, a DNC chairmanship under his belt and 30 years in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Chris Dodd endorsed his one-time rival for the presidency with the air of a senior statesman anointing the next nominee.
"I believe that Barack Obama has the experience, the ability the vision to lead this country, to make a difference both at home and abroad," Dodd said, adding later, "The hour is getting late. That opportunity is not going to last forever. I believe the world wants to see [the U.S.] get back on [its] feet again. And I believe that Barack Obama gives us the opportunity to do that."
He joked that he had hoped this would have happened the other way around when he took the podium, before going on to praise Obama. Dodd said he had been moved by the crowds that have come to see Obama and the sentiment that he'd stirred in young people and across the country. He added that careful observation of Obama over the past four years had led him to this endorsement.
"I think the ability of Barack Obama has brought to this, to reach out and attract the kind of response, is certainly something none of us have seen in a long time in American politics -- certainly in the last generation,” Dodd said. “The kind of response where we saw in this primary the crowds showing up, many of them coming to listen and hear for the first time, but walking away convinced they were hearing something different contributed I think to the judgment I had today to support this candidacy.
*** UPDATE *** The RNC releases this attack on the news of Dodd's endorsement: "When Americans think of change, how many think of Chris Dodd? Dodd played a key role in combating FISA legislation, and it’s no surprise he would now embrace the Senate’s ‘most liberal’ member. This is only news because Dodd is endorsing a candidate for President whose policies he previously labeled as ‘dangerous’.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray
We've just received word that
Dodd will hold a press conference on Saturday in East Haddam, CT to thank his friends, family, and supporters after ending his presidential bid.
From NBC's Chuck Todd
NBC News has confirmed that Dodd is dropping out of race.
From NBC's Mark Murray
Some other news today... Former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey (D) endorsed Clinton. Nebraska, of course, borders Iowa, so the endorsement could help Clinton in the western part of the Hawkeye State. On the other hand, the Kerrey endorsement was suggested by the New York Times a few weeks ago, and the endorsement will spur reporters to remember Kerrey's description of Bill Clinton in the 1990s as "an unusually good liar."
Also, the Ron Paul campaign today announced that it has already raised $13.5 million for this quarter, surpassing its $12 million goal.
And the Dodd camp is going up with a new radio in Iowa that features Iraq war vet and state Rep. Ray Zirkelbach, who has endorsed Dodd. "I want people to know that talking about Iraq, and doing this radio ad, is not easy for me,' Zirkelbach says in it. "But I'm doing it because I want my 20-month old daughter Claire, who was born while I was in Iraq, to live in a country with leaders who once again care about what's happening to average families like yours and mine."
"That's why I'll be caucusing for Chris Dodd for President. I trust him to bring the War in Iraq to an end. Chris Dodd served in the military, and I know he'll do right by the veterans who have fought for our country."
From NBC's Mark Murray
This New York Times article today telegraphed it, but Clinton's rivals are now using the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran to blast her for her earlier vote in favor of designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.
"As was the case with Iraq, the latest NIE makes it clear that this President is offering another false bill of goods to Congress and the American people in an attempt to build the case for war with Iran," Dodd said in a statement. "Our experience should have shown us the danger in trusting this Administration as it marched to war. That is why I and many of my colleagues -- at least many of those who bothered to vote -- opposed the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment. Unfortunately, Senator Clinton instead chose to lend credence to the Administration's position." (Note Dodd's subtle dig at Obama, who opposed the measure but didn't vote on it because he was campaigning.)
Dodd concludes, "It's easy to say 'fool me once, shame on George Bush,' but when she's been fooled twice, shame on her."
From NBC/NJ’s Tricia Miller
DES MOINES, IA --
Edwards and
Dodd were the only two presidential
candidates to speak to partygoers at a holiday fundraiser for Iowa Gov.
Chet Culver and Lt. Gov. Patty Judge Friday night. Individual attendees
paid $35 and families paid $50 for ribs, beer and a chance to hear the
candidates and several surrogates speak.
Edwards, who had spoken at the DNC fall meeting in Virginia earlier in
the day, addressed the crowd last. He gave a lengthier, more
issues-focused speech than any of the others. He began by expressing
gratitude to hard-working campaign staffers and his relief that Clinton
staffers in Rochester, N.H., were unharmed following the day’s hostage
situation. He reminded the crowd of those less fortunate and to
celebrate “diverse faiths” during the holiday season.
After Culver, Dodd spoke, his wife Jacki standing just behind him. He
kept it short, telling a story about his 6-year-old daughter: “Grace
the other day asked her mother and I, she said, ‘How is Santa Claus
going to know where I am?’ I said, ‘We’ll take care of that.’ So
yesterday in front of our home in Connecticut, we put out a sign. It
just says, ‘Dear Santa, we’re in Iowa. Grace and Christina.’ Now we’ve
got a sign in front of our house here that says, ‘Santa, this is where
we live here in Iowa.’”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray
On Friday, the Democratic presidential candidates will head to Northern Virginia to address the Democratic National Committee meeting there. But one candidate -- Dodd -- won't be joining them. "With barely more than a month left to caucus night, Senator Dodd will be taking his case directly to the people of Iowa instead of attending the DNC Fall Meeting," a Dodd spokesman says in a press release.
Per a Dodd campaign official, the thinking behind this move is that the coverage payoff for the campaign will be minimal, and it allows it to play the insider-vs.-outsider card. "We are in Iowa talking to the voters, they are all [in the Washington area] talking to themselves," the official tells First Read.
From Aswini Anburajan and Carrie Dann
On the Sunday evening following Thanksgiving, John Beaudoin received the phone call he had been waiting ten long months for. Beaudin who publishes two weekly newspapers in Iowa, the Logan Herald-Observer (circulation 1,427) and the smaller Woodbine Twiner (circulation 1,143) had been e-mailing and calling the Clinton campaign since January to request an interview with the senator.
He finally heard back this past weekend, the day after a well publicized appearance by Obama in the region and a prominent story in the New York Times commending the Obama campaign's outreach to local weekly and daily newspapers, as also noted at The Rural Blog, of the University of Kentucky’s Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues.
Referring to the phone call he received from the Clinton campaign as a "breakthrough," Beaudoin said that he found its timing to be "rather odd."
"The timing [of the interview] seems to be working in their favor,” Beaudoin said. “The New York Times piece gave Obama good press about how his people are handling weekly papers. She dropped in the polls recently… We've offered her front-page space for the past 10 months -- just like all the other candidates. It's always time constraints and one person gets the message and the other person doesn't get the message.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray
Earlier today, we mentioned the new Clinton TV ad, in which a moderator talks about the "Republican attack machine" and why it's gunning for Hillary. A Dodd spokesman just issued this statement: "It's an interesting admission from Senator Clinton -- that if she's elected we're headed for four more years of the partisan warfare, Washington dysfunction, bitter divisiveness and gridlock that have marked the last 15 years, at a time when all Americans are desperate for real solutions to real problems."
Is the Dodd camp helping Obama here?
From NBC's Mark MurrayEarlier today, we cited a
New York Times piece noting that
Edwards is refusing to say that he would endorse
Clinton if she becomes the Democratic nominee. Well, in response,
Dodd has released this statement obtained by First Read: “I am surprised at just how angry John has become. This is not the same John Edwards I once knew. Of course, we should all come together to support the nominee. I wonder which of the Republicans John prefers to Hillary?”
