An impressive performance by Senator Chris Dodd on Bill O'Reilly's finger-pointing, blow-hard show. Oh, please protect us from the terrible DailyKos! It's shocking, shocking what gets posted on that site. Hateful! Shade your eyes. Hey, I don't always agree with the good people at DailyKos, but it's truly amusing to hear O'Reilly feign such a tender sensibility. To his credit, Dodd took him to town. Watch.

This handy chart comes to us from the Chris Dodd campaign. Watching the debate, it did seem like Duncan Hunter got a lot of airtime. And Dodd's stopwatch confirms it. Sam Brownback was the second tier guy who had the most camera time, but Hunter seemed to leave a more lasting impact. Of the also-rans (like Mr. Dodd himself), who do you think helped himself the most?

How did the Democrats fare on Sunday night? The Dodd camp clocked their time too.

Political insiders place Chris Dodd in the second tier of Democratic presidential hopefuls. But in his new TV commercial, the Connecticut senator says it's the front-runners that are following his lead.

Dodd's new spot calls out Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama by name, saying that both had come around to support an Iraq funding amendment co-sponsored by Chris Dodd. Take a look:



AP reports that the spot will run in New Hampshire and Iowa, costing the Dodd camp about $120,000 in television time.

Let's not bother with the election for president. Just give the Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton. As a compromise, let the rookie Sen. Barack Obama be the vice president. On the Republican side, let's keep an eye on those polls and then give the nomination to McCain and let Giuliani have the vice presidential nomination. This process would save a lot of time and money. Maybe, we could even decide who should be president after reviewing the polls.

Thank God, this isn't the way American politics work. Knowing this, Senator Christopher Dodd has decided to drop his hat into the Democratic Presidential race. While other formidable potential candidates have been scared away by the "star power" of Barack and Hillary, Senator Dodd has decided to let the Americian voter listen to a discussion of the issues, analyze the credentials of the candidates and decide, is this the person who can lead the country for the next four years.

Dodd was first elected to Congress in 1974 and was elected senator in 1981. Though his policies tend to be liberal, he has been able to work both sides of the aisle in creating legislation. He served as General Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He has served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He has the background but is not yet recoginized nationally.

Despite his international and domesic experience, Senator Dodd is a blip on the blogger notes and the polls. Does Dodd have a chance? Let's stroll through memory lane. President Bush was the front runner and he got the nomination. Dean pulled a couple of early upsets but Kerry knocked him out. Gore was the frontrunner in 2000 and got the nod easily. Clinton was the 1992 frontrunner and almost got knocked out by scandal. In 1988, Cuomo was the front runner, then Gary Hart (little scandal did him in) and then Mike Dukakis squeezed into the nomination. In 1984, Walter Mondale was the frontrunner and winner.

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., certainly doesn't lack experience, after 26 years in the Senate. And he says it will serve him well in his just-announced bid for the White House.

Should he be worried though the news was not even that exciting to the person who "got" the announcement? Dodd made his bid official on Don Imus' morning show, but the radio host seemed more interested in talking about John McCain and Barack Obama. Here's the quotes, via AP:

"I'll tell you who I saw last night who was very impressive was Barack Obama," Imus told Dodd. "I'm not one of those Hollywood phonies jumping on the Barack Obama bandwagon - I'm going to vote for McCain at this point," Imus added, referring to Arizona Sen. John McCain, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination.

"Now wait a minute, wait a minute," Dodd interjected. "I come on the program, I blow everybody else off, I announce here - at least leave the door open a little bit for me here. ... And I'm your pal - 14 years - you can't just walk away from me. You leave that door open a little bit."

So, what do you think of Dodd's chances? Take the poll, and comment below.

A recent AP story labels Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) "well positioned" to enter the Dem primary field. The claim is his chairmanship of the banking committee will enable him to raise money quickly. The presumption is the ability to raise $$$ equals the ability to gain votes. Pardon me while I pause and remember big spenders like Sen. Phil Gramm who went nowhere fast.

Sen. Dodd is a nice warm glass of milk. And like Gramm, he's a senator going nowhere fast. The last poll I saw he didn't even score 1% percent.

Let's flip over to the Republican side and see how it's going. Not so well either. McCain is hiring staff who were at least aware of such "techniques" such as phone jamming, "misuse" of blogs and possible directing of "external organizations" (supposed independent 527's). On top of that, he's positioned himself in favor of escalating the war by sending more troops. According to neocon Rober Novak he can only get 11 Republican senators to join him in support of this Titanic move. His former "Straight -Talk Express" has now been dubbed the "Pander Express" as he pursues the rightwing base he needs to get the nomination. Giuliani is mentioned as the 'moderate' in the race. One Youtube of Rudy, in drag, at one of the gay night dances when he was mayor and 'poof', no more Rudy. How about Mitt Romney? According to the AP, he's set to announce soon. For what? A gravedigger? Three words. The Big Dig. Look, Romney could not get elected again in Massachusetts and the fact of the matter is he's changed his position on the litmus Republican social issue tests more often than McCain.

Join me on the flip while i take on the Dems again...

Christopher Dodd may jump into the busy presidential race on the Democratic side according to ABC:

Sen. Chris Dodd said Tuesday he plans to have "a conversation with the mirror" over the Christmas holidays to decide whether he'll join a growing field of Democratic presidential contenders.

But Dodd, a 25-year Senate veteran, added, "If I had to make a decision in the next thirty seconds, I'd say, 'Let's go.'"

Anyway, Dodd has zero chance and realizes it himself. His personality and voice make Tom Daschle seem downright energetic and he has 25-years of votes to explain. He's a straight party line voter who hasn't written any legislation that was controversial. He did vote for the USA Patriot Act, which could come back and hurt him with the left-wing of his party and voted for John Roberts and John Ashcroft, yet against Alberto Gonzales and Samuel Alito.

What also could also hurt him is that he voted for the authorization of troops in Iraq. The only credible candidate that vote won't hurt is Senator Obama.

Dodd is a safe politician and would make a good running mate. As for President, he lacks the charisma that is required to spark the base and get cross-over votes. I would put him in the list of second-tier candidates along with Evan Bayh, John Kerry and Tom Vilsack who will abandon the race shortly after New Hampshire, Iowa, or possibly New Jersey.

Despite the polls favoring Hillary Clinton and the blogs that just about anoint her the next President of the United States, Senator Christopher Dodd was hinting that he just might run for President in 2008. On December 8, Dodd was speaking at Harvard University and he was talking like a presidential candidate.

Dodd is not up for reelection until 2010. He has served more than 25 years as a Senator. He is a well respected liberal who listens to those on both sides of the aisle. He was Chairman of the Democratic Party from 1995 to 1997. He speaks Spanish. Finally, he is a good interview to listen to on the Don Imus Show.

If elected, Senator Dodd would take this country in a new direction. He has opposed the embargo with Cuba and would probably reestablish diplomatic relations with Cuba. That seems inevitable. Castro is nearing death and the opportunity for change is apparent.

Dodd opposes the repeal of the estate tax. After the Katrina disaster and the uncontrolled spending in Iraq, it is hard to believe that anybody could seriously consider eliminating this tax that effects about 1% of all taxpayers.

Come January, Senator Dodd will throw his hat into the ring. He will be an interesting candidate who will add to any debate in which he participates. I can't wait to see how Senator Lieberman reacts when this hat goes into the ring.

What happens when your good friend loses the Democratic primary and you have to back the other guy?

Sen. Chris Dodd saw his worst nightmare become reality. As a former chairperson of the Democratic Party, Dodd did what he had to do. He endorsed Ned Lamont over his long time friend and colleage, Sen. Joe Lieberman. By some of Lieberman's actions, it seems that he is a little miffed at his old friend. However, let's look at what Senator Dodd said as he endorsed Ned.