Why Progressive Bloggers Are Talking Up Dodd - RawStory

Presidential campaign provides mantle for Senator's move to hold corporate spies accountable
Nick Juliano

Published: Friday November 2, 2007

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Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd may be polling below the margin of error, but his presidential bid has provided a podium for his moves in the Senate to curtail President Bush's power grab.

Selling himself as a dark horse alternative to the frontrunners, Dodd has used his presence on the campaign trail to raise the visibility of his attempts to block administration proposals are restore what he says have been crumbling Constitutional rights in the last seven years. The Connecticut Senator's recent promise to filibuster a foreign surveillance law that would grant legal immunity to phone and internet companies that helped the NSA spy on Americans without warrants has helped raise his profile, especially among progressive bloggers and liberal activists.

"People online have been clamoring for not just to say the right things, but to do the right things," campaign spokesman Matt Browner Hamlin told RAW STORY.

Dodd announced he would put a "hold" on an update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act if it contained telecom immunity when a bill was introduced Oct. 18. Within 36 hours, his campaign raised more than $200,000.

"People are speaking with their wallets, and they want to support this campaign as it continues to move forward," Browner Hamlin said.

Although the FISA debate isn't a deciding issue for enough voters to make a difference on its own, Dodd's campaign is using the opportunity to remind voters of his calls to curtail Iraq war funding and restore habeas corpus.

Dodd is embracing the support he is receiving from his party's left flank, in the Senate and on the campaign trail. In a recent e-mail appeal sent to Democracy for America members, Dodd said he was more concerned about the FISA fight than his performance in their presidential straw poll.

"This might not be customary, but my ask isn't that you vote for me in the Pulse Poll, it is that you let Democracy for America HQ know how you feel about our fight to restore the Constitution and preserve the rule of law," Dodd wrote. "...I've been supported in this effort by MoveOn, the ACLU, Glenn Greenwald, Atrios, the team at Firedoglake, Open Left, the Daily Kos community and countless other bloggers."


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More: http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Presidential_campaign_provides_mantle_for_Senators_1031.html

Good for you Seantor Dodd. At least somebody is paying attention.

of the week candidate.

party seems to take the morally and ethically RIGHT path?

why they try to marginalize us..because they can't handle "morally and ethically RIGHT".

Any Democrat who declares they will end the Drug War is okay in my book.

reasons right there why the coporatemediawhores will never let DODD win..unless, of course, we get our revoltion.

Even if he doesn't win the primaries, I think he'd be an excellent choice for VP.

That's what I like to hear..someone running for Prez who doesn't think we're the Progressive Looney Left.. :P

most notably Dodd and Biden (my personal choice). i find it's an indication that people are beginning to turn their attention to the campaign and listen to what the candidates are presenting. The big hoopla for the three began SO far in advance, they were bound to be the only ones people were aware of when they were polled.

Now, with the caucus drawing nearer, we've settled in and are beginning to make wise choices.

Dodd would be an excellent choice -- Even Biden said to Dodd's sister "If I don't make it, I'm voting for him.".