2007.02.19: February 19, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS - Dominican Republic: Politics: Congress: Election2008 - Dodd: Hartford Courant: Dodd's Stories And Smiles Help Build Connections

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Dominican Republic: RPCV Chris Dodd (Dominican Republic) : RPCV Chris Dodd: Archived Stories: 2007.02.19: February 19, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS - Dominican Republic: Politics: Congress: Election2008 - Dodd: Hartford Courant: Dodd's Stories And Smiles Help Build Connections

By Admin1 (admin) (ppp-70-245-26-66.dsl.okcyok.swbell.net - 70.245.26.66) on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 9:22 am: Edit Post

Dodd's Stories And Smiles Help Build Connections

Dodd's Stories And Smiles Help Build Connections

During Dodd's two-day visit last week to this first-primary state, the senator showed why, if he goes anywhere in his 2008 presidential bid, it could be because of his personality as much as his views on Iraq, health care or anything else. "I'm 62," he said. "This is not a warm-up for some future run. I am who I am. I'm not going to go through some metamorphosis." Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic in the 1960's.

Dodd's Stories And Smiles Help Build Connections

Dodd's Tactics: Charm, Humor

Stories And Smiles Help Build Connections

February 19, 2007

By DAVID LIGHTMAN, Washington Bureau Chief

[Excerpt]

BEDFORD, N.H. -- The Roosevelt story, related Friday by Chris Dodd, could be apocryphal, but it really doesn't matter.

It's 1945, and FDR's funeral cortege was coming down the street. A man by the side of the road, clearly upset, remarked that though he did not know Roosevelt personally, he felt Roosevelt knew him.

Standing before the crowd at the Bedford Village Inn, Dodd's voice softened. "What an incredible thing to say," he told the group. If he could have that said about him, he would be a content politician.

During Dodd's two-day visit last week to this first-primary state, the senator showed why, if he goes anywhere in his 2008 presidential bid, it could be because of his personality as much as his views on Iraq, health care or anything else.

"I'm 62," he said. "This is not a warm-up for some future run. I am who I am. I'm not going to go through some metamorphosis."

On Thursday, Dodd addressed about 20 people at the Redhook Brewery.

The company's employees sat on chairs scattered about a room rich with that yeasty smell of beer. Dodd took an hour to lay out in detail where he stood on the issues of the day. Then he turned to the group.

"None of you have asked me the question on all your minds," he said. "And it doesn't concern what my views are or the war in Iraq. You're asking yourselves, `Do I know who you are?'"

He tried to connect, scoring best with audiences when he got that twinkle in his eye, that signal that there's a laugh line coming.

That happened at Friday morning's politics and eggs breakfast in Bedford, a staple of primary politics where about 200 businesspeople gather every four years to size up the candidates.

Dodd told the tale of President William Howard Taft and New York Sen. Chauncey DePew.

DePew introduced Taft by saying that the distinguished statesman was "pregnant with integrity, pregnant with courage."

Taft, Dodd said, "who is 380 pounds, 6-foot-8, cut a great figure. He made his way to the podium. He said, `If it's a girl, I shall call her integrity. If a boy, courage. But if it is, as I suspect, nothing more than gas, I'll call it Chauncey DePew."

The expensive-suit-and-pantsuit crowd was Dodd's.

That's not to say they gave him their votes or even their cheers. This group, brought together by the business-oriented New England Council, asked tough questions, and his answers were combinations of that humor and strongly held positions.

Before the breakfast began, however, Dodd stood in front of a roaring fireplace as a line of big shots waited to get a few seconds of face time.

One by one, they marched onto the little pieces of slate where Dodd stood to chat and have their pictures taken. Paul Choquette told him he went to college with Dodd's niece. Gary Rinaldi said he grew up in Waterbury. Fran Egbers, an enthusiastic Dodd backer, told him one reason she came was because "it's a free breakfast."

Then it was on to the big event, as New Hampshire's captains of banking and industry crammed into the rustic banquet room. Dodd slipped some favorite lines into his answers - reminding everyone, for example, that as a 62-year-old father of two little girls, "I'm the only guy I know who gets mail from the AARP and diaper services."

People chuckled, but they wanted thorough answers, answers that would provide some window into the man. No incumbent senator has been elected president since 1960, Dodd was reminded. How can you break the string?

"Experience does matter," he said, and he rattled off his resumé. And, he pledged, if elected, the day after his inauguration he would have "John Warner from Virginia, Mitch McConnell from Kentucky, Ted Kennedy, Tom Harkin" over to the White House.




Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: February, 2007; RPCV Chris Dodd (Dominican Republic); Figures; Peace Corps Dominican Republic; Directory of Dominican Republic RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Dominican Republic RPCVs; Politics; Congress; Connecticut





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Story Source: Hartford Courant

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Dominican Republic; Politics; Congress; Election2008 - Dodd

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By wrong candidate (dialup-4.156.84.23.dial1.boston1.level3.net - 4.156.84.23) on Saturday, February 24, 2007 - 9:07 pm: Edit Post

You are not fit to run. Roosevelt hangs in my house. You are no Roosevelt. Remember you have to have a sense of folks. You don't. You are arrogant and you don't respond correctly to the average voter.


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