With my feet firmly planted in Chicago a full 24 hours before Yearly Kos kicks off, the Dodd campaign already has some pre-convention business to report.
In fact, we have a 2 for 1 this afternoon.
1.) Senator Dodd will appear on Bill O'Reilly this evening.
2.) Senator Dodd released a timely statement on News Corp's takeover of the Wall Street Journal.
The O'Reilly taping starts at 5:30 P.M. Eastern tonight, and I'll report back here with what to expect before the show even airs.
From Chris Dodd for President's campaign "War Room" ... hello!
Tonight, we'll be providing another round of unprecedented campaign coverage from the CNN/YouTube Democratic Primary Debate in Charleston, South Carolina.
Yesterday afternoon, Chris Dodd's Presidential campaign was contacted by an O'Reilly Factor producer about a follow-up segment to the Yearly Kos hit-job they ran the other night. The email included several comments pulled from hundreds of thousands on Daily Kos, and asked us to respond in light of our participation in the Presidential Forum. The segment is supposed to air on Thursday night.
Senator Dodd is a proud member of the Daily Kos community, most notably engaging this community in a live video give-and-take prior to the New Hampshire debate. He is also an enthusiastic confirmed participant for Yearly Kos.
The campaign responded directly to the O'Reilly Factor's request for comment earlier today. The contents of that letter can be found in the extended entry.
There's a saying on most campaigns: "If you're not the candidate and people are reading about you, something bad probably happened."
Not today.
In most campaigns there are anywhere from dozens to hundreds of paid staffers and volunteers working tirelessly to propel "the boss" to some elected position.
Who are they? What are their days like? Is dropping everything and working as a campaign staffer this cycle something that might interest you? How do you get started? Drop questions in the comments and they'll be answered in real-time.
One of the great things about the internets is that you don't have to be in Iowa or New Hampshire to get a chance to see, live, what the candidates on the stump are up to.
Right now, Senator Dodd is about to talk energy and environment with Sierra Club members in New Hampshire, and we on the campaign wanted to invite you inside. He sometimes has a habit of taking questions from the net during these live streams (via Matt Browner-Hamlin), so if you have one, please use the comments. Otherwise, enjoy the discussion.
Update [2007-7-16 16:8:5 by ttagaris]: Event is over, check out recorded version in the extended entry. -- Tim
A beautiful setting in Council Bluffs, IA on the banks of the Missouri River. Paul Simon and Senator Chris Dodd are continuing their "River to River" tour across the state.
This is part of our effort to bring you as much live video as possible at D-TV. We go live from campaign HQ for several hours a day and as many campaign stops as possible -- not to mention constantly updated video clips on YouTube from the road. Take a look ... besides who likes The Police anyway (I kid).
Tim (proud to work for Senator Dodd)
Update [2007-7-7 15:15:29 by ttagaris]: Show just ended, recorded version up now.
We're trying something new here -- trying to live-stream as many campaign events as possible. As D-TV grows, we plan on including a lot more staff interaction as well. Please stop by and take a look. Until then, the concert with Paul Simon ...
This event is live from Fort Dodge, Iowa -- in the city square.
Update [2007-7-6 13:1:20 by ttagaris]: Concert just ended. Here's the recorded version. There will be another show at 6:30 at D-TV.
Tired of not really being able to follow the Presidential Primary close enough from your state short of some text on a screen or a twenty-second clip on MSNBC or YouTube?
If you had the opportunity, would you spend an entire day with a Presidential candidate on the trail? What if the you could have the campaign make a stop right in your living room?
While this week was a somber one for progressives, and indeed all Americans, across the country -- Senator Dodd's presidential campaign is grateful so many have decided to "give him a second look."
Well, this monring, live, right here, you can do just that as Senator Dodd continues his kitchen table campaign throughout New Hampshire. Better than anything else on television, isn't it?
It has indeed been a rough day, for everyone. Senators Kerry and Feingold shared encouraging messages today via email and on Daily Kos, and I wanted to take a second and share a few clips of Senator Dodd talking about the supplemental and his plan for Iraq about an hour ago on Hardball.
"I think this President has dug in his heels, I don't think he has any intention of changing his policy whatsoever and I think frankly as a result of this we're gonna dig a deeper and deeper hole for ourselves here. Giving the President this supplemental is just giving him another shovel."
Later this morning the Senate will hold a cloture vote as to whether or not the Feingold-Reid-Dodd amendment can be considered as an addition to the Water Resources Development Act reauthorization. The Feingold-Reid-Dodd amendment requires that we begin withdrawing troops from Iraq within 120 days of enactment and mandates that all combat forces be redeployed by March 31, 2008.
We've shared a few fun campaigns together, haven't we? Paul Hackett, Ned Lamont, and some time together at the DNC with Governor Dean.
All along the way, we've fought the good fight, for good candidates and a vision of progress. That's exactly why I didn't hesitate when asked to join the Presidential campaign of Senator Chris Dodd.
Yes, Chris Dodd.
And as respected blogger Bob Geiger put it, "Those still shopping around for a Democratic presidential candidate -- and we should all probably still be doing that at this stage -- need to take a good, long look at Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT)."
I'm in New Orleans, writing at MyDD on the Carter/Jefferson run-off election.
Sometimes the difference between two candidates in an election can be totally encapsulated in one single day. For Paul Hackett and Jean Schmidt, it was 10/25/04. That was the day Major Paul Hackett touched down in Ramadi - the same day Jean Schmidt failed to report an evening of fine dining and box seats at a Bengals game, paid for by lobbyists.
For Karen Carter and William Jefferson, that day was September 2, 2005 ... a mere days after "the storm" and "the flood."
The same day a President Bush declared, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." That was the day explosions at a chemical facility rocked New Orleans. That was the day "10,000 people stood in 100-plus degree heat outside the Superdome, wading through knee-deep trash to board busses." (link)
When MyDD presented me with the opportunity to work through my post-Lamont malaise by taking off to Louisiana to "purge" the party of another (D), I jumped. You've heard him: William Jefferson? AKA, the congressman with 90k in his freezer.
This run-off election is important. There's corruption, Katrina, and a candidate with very courageous stands on social issues for the deep South. In the extended, I hope to explain why some of your favorite bloggers have endorsed Karen Carter over William Jefferson in LA-2. But before I get into that, here's what I learned about the local landschape from bloggers who also humbly took me on the "misery tour" this weekend.
(Hopefully this addresses most of the questions folks have been asking about the campaign, including who helped and who didn't. Maybe this piece, along with Sirota's, will go a long way towards dispelling many myths out there while acknowledging where we came up short - Tim)
August 8, 2006
"We won, it's only a matter of by how much now."
Those were the words field genius Rose Ryan whispered to me while receiving precinct-by-precinct results via phone and email in a tiny "war room" at the Four Points Sheraton in Meriden, CT on August 8, 2006.
Like children, we savored the night, sipped from champagne bottles reaching four feet in height, and held on to each second until our eyelids conceded against the will of trying to make that evening last forever.
Four hours later, we were back at it again. Downtown Hartford was the place for the "Democratic Unity" rally. In retrospect, we probably should have seen the writing on the wall that morning: Leading Democrats were never going to throw Joe Lieberman under the same bus he had repeatedly backed the party under time and time again.
I still don't have it in me to scribble some lengthy screed (or even a short one) about the last nine months in Connecticut and our magical journey together. But Ned's a more resilient man than I and just emailed me a note of thanks he wanted to make sure was passed along to you.
If you'd like to email Ned, send it to info@nedlamont.com and I'll make sure he gets it. He is one of the most earnest and sincere men I've ever met who had the courage to stand up to an 18 year incumbent within his own party when no one else would. The Senate would have been an immeasurably better place with his presence. He deserves all of our thanks.
Here's some video:
Ned's full concession speech (link)
Swan's remarks last night (link)
A small part of Ned's concession from the floor (link)
In the flurry of all there is left to do in the final 36 hours, I wanted to take a moment to scribble a note of thanks from Ned, our campaign staff, and me ... to you.
Thank you.
When Ned got into this race, most people thought it was impossible, but important. The primary campaign provided us an opportunity to put Iraq on the ballot on a national stage. And in the face of wholesale opposition from nearly every organ of party infrastructure, we won.
I'll never forgot returning to this site "the day after" and watching the hope and optisism that came with the netroots "first real victory." You were the first to rally behind Ned, and most of you have stuck with us all the way ... even as the keepers of conventional wisdom tell us, again, there is no chance.
Whatever happens tomorrow, this wasn't our first fight together, and it certainly won't be our last. On August 8, we shocked the world, and I believe in my heart of hearts, if we hit on every note tomorrow we'll do it again.
There's been so much about this race that defies conventional wisdom. Back in May, Ned was a "single issue candidate" with zero chance of beating a popular 18 year incumbent. On "HotlineTV" the keepers of conventional wisdom debated whether or not we'd get over 35% of the vote on August 8th.
A funny thing happened. They forgot to tell thousands of volunteers ... and we won.
The D.C. keepers of conventional wisdom give us little chance of winning on Tuesday. And again, they forgot to tell the thousands of volunteers this weekend canvassing and ID'ing voters. The most credible journalists in the state (McEnroe, Bass, Pazniokas) believe it will be a lot closer than polls reflect.
So here's my answer to the initial question: I don't know if we're going to win. I didn't know on primary day either. I do know that your participation increases our chances expontentially. So, if you are in a position to fuel our field campaign:
