2006.10.22: October 22, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Dominican Republic: Politics: Congress: Election2008 - Dodd: Connecticut Post : Dodd not thrilled by Ned Lamont's win, which caused Joe Lieberman, his Senate colleague of 18 years to run as an independent
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2006.10.22: October 22, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Dominican Republic: Politics: Congress: Election2008 - Dodd: Connecticut Post : Dodd not thrilled by Ned Lamont's win, which caused Joe Lieberman, his Senate colleague of 18 years to run as an independent
Dodd not thrilled by Ned Lamont's win, which caused Joe Lieberman, his Senate colleague of 18 years to run as an independent
Dodd worked hard for Lieberman during the primary but felt "as the titular head of a party in my state, a former national chairman, a guy who's seeking possibly to run for the presidency" that he could not "walk away from a decision made by 143,000 people in my state." Dodd said it would be uncomfortable to drop his support for an 18-year colleague but that Lamont was not "a bad guy" and had a good message. Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic in the 1960's.
Dodd not thrilled by Ned Lamont's win, which caused Joe Lieberman, his Senate colleague of 18 years to run as an independent
Dodd caught in middle of Senate race
Article Launched:10/22/2006 07:58:29 AM EDT
Cut and run.Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., appears to have adopted that much derided strategy this election cycle.
For Democrats there are few places where more is on the line than in Connecticut. The state is home to three of the most contested House races this year, where Democrats could pick up a fifth of the seats they need to win back the majority.
The races are all considered tossups and the Democratic challengers — Diane Farrell in the 4th, Chris Murphy in the 5th and Joe Courtney in the 2nd — could use as much support as possible.
Although Dodd has helped each of them, he could certainly do more.
Instead, he has ratcheted up his presidential ambitions with visits to early primary and caucus states. He was in New Hampshire and Iowa last week.
No one should begrudge him the chance to seek higher office. He thought about making a run in 2004 but did not want to harm Sen. Joe Lieberman's chances. Lieberman, who was the party's 2000 vice presidential nominee, was considered an early favorite in 2004 before poor showings in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary put a barb through his heart.
Dodd is a long shot to win the Democratic nomination for president and needs to make his way to these bell wether states to gain standing in an already crowded field of contenders. That said, you've got to wonder if Dodd's efforts aren't more about finding a distraction to Connecticut politics — and, in particular, avoiding campaign appearances with Democrat Ned Lamont, who defeated Lieberman in the party's August primary.
There is no question that Dodd was not thrilled by the result, which caused his Senate colleague of 18 years to run as an independent. It came up earlier this month during an interview with CNN reporter Wolf Blitzer.
"Who's going to win, Lieberman or Ned Lamont, in your home state of Connecticut?" Blitzer asked.
"Well, it's going to be close," Dodd said.
"Who do you want?" Blitzer followed up.
"Well, I'm supporting Ned Lamont," Dodd said.
"That must be so painful for you," Blitzer sympathized.
"Of course, it is. Thank you for asking me, though," Dodd said.
Radio commentator Don Imus asked about the situation in an earlier interview and Dodd explained that he was in an awkward position.
Dodd worked hard for Lieberman during the primary but felt "as the titular head of a party in my state, a former national chairman, a guy who's seeking possibly to run for the presidency" that he could not "walk away from a decision made by 143,000 people in my state."
Dodd said it would be uncomfortable to drop his support for an 18-year colleague but that Lamont was not "a bad guy" and had a good message.
Dodd did attend a campaign event a week ago with Lamont but has largely steered clear of him and concentrated on his out-of-Connecticut presidential campaign.
The effort has meant less face time for Dodd with Connecticut's congressional candidates. He did appear with Farrell a week ago at a Westport senior center.
At the event, Dodd defended Farrell against a National Republican Campaign Committee mailing that linked her to an organization the GOP claimed favored appeasing the deposed Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
He called it outrageous.
Farrell has drawn national attention as she battles Rep. Chris Shays, R-4, in a rematch that appears up for grabs. The same is true in the contests between Murphy and Rep. Nancy Johnson and Courtney and Rep. Rob Simmons.
New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina voters aren't going to support a presidential candidate that doesn't spend time there but it would seem that Dodd should gamble on the Connecticut trio now.
Should they win with his full support, Dodd would have strong bragging rights around the nation for helping Democrats retake the House. That strategy, while maybe making for a few awkward moments, beats the current "cut and run" strategy by miles.
Peter Urban, who covers Washington, can be reached by e-mail at purban@ctpost.com.
When this story was posted in October 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
 | Harris Wofford to speak at "PC History" series Senator Harris Wofford will be the speaker at the 4th Annual "Peace Corps History" series on November 16 sponsored by the University of Maryland at Baltimore County (UMBC) and the Maryland Returned Volunteers. Previous speakers in the series have included Jack Vaughn (Second Director of the Peace Corps), Scott Stossel (Biographer of Sargent Shriver), and C. Payne Lucas (President Emeritus of Africare). Details on the time and location of the event are available here. |
 | Chris Dodd's Vision for the Peace Corps Senator Chris Dodd (RPCV Dominican Republic) spoke at the ceremony for this year's Shriver Award and elaborated on issues he raised at Ron Tschetter's hearings. Dodd plans to introduce legislation that may include: setting aside a portion of Peace Corps' budget as seed money for demonstration projects and third goal activities (after adjusting the annual budget upward to accommodate the added expense), more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, removing medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older volunteers, providing more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process, a more comprehensive health safety net for recently-returned volunteers, and authorizing volunteers to accept, under certain circumstances, private donations to support their development projects. He plans to circulate draft legislation for review to members of the Peace Corps community and welcomes RPCV comments. |
 | He served with honor One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor. |
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 | Peace Corps' Screening and Medical Clearance The purpose of Peace Corps' screening and medical clearance process is to ensure safe accommodation for applicants and minimize undue risk exposure for volunteers to allow PCVS to complete their service without compromising their entry health status. To further these goals, PCOL has obtained a copy of the Peace Corps Screening Guidelines Manual through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and has posted it in the "Peace Corps Library." Applicants and Medical Professionals (especially those who have already served as volunteers) are urged to review the guidelines and leave their comments and suggestions. Then read the story of one RPCV's journey through medical screening and his suggestions for changes to the process. |
 | The Peace Corps is "fashionable" again The LA Times says that "the Peace Corps is booming again and "It's hard to know exactly what's behind the resurgence." PCOL Comment: Since the founding of the Peace Corps 45 years ago, Americans have answered Kennedy's call: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Over 182,000 have served. Another 200,000 have applied and been unable to serve because of lack of Congressional funding. The Peace Corps has never gone out of fashion. It's Congress that hasn't been keeping pace. |
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 | History of the Peace Corps PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help. |
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Story Source: Connecticut Post
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