2008.01.05: January 5, 2008: Headlines: Figures: COS - Dominican Republic: Politics: Congress: Election2008 - Dodd: Hartford Courant: Dodd Gets Huge Homecoming in hometown of East Haddam

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Dominican Republic: RPCV Chris Dodd (Dominican Republic) : RPCV Chris Dodd: Newest Stories: 2008.01.03: January 3, 2008: Headlines: Figures: COS - Dominican Republic: Politics: Congress: Election2008 - Dodd: New York Times: Chris Dodd’s address to supporters after the Iowa Caucuses : 2008.01.05: January 5, 2008: Headlines: Figures: COS - Dominican Republic: Politics: Congress: Election2008 - Dodd: Hartford Courant: Dodd Gets Huge Homecoming in hometown of East Haddam

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Dodd Gets Huge Homecoming in hometown of East Haddam

Dodd Gets Huge Homecoming in hometown of East Haddam

Dodd's most loyal supporters gathered there to welcome him home in a ballroom that was elbow-to-elbow with Democratic politicos, loyalists, and longtime friends. Dodd ended up with only 0.02 percent of the vote in Iowa, which left many of Dodd's supporters scratching their heads as they pondered the disappointing outcome for a well-known Democrat with 26 years in the United States Senate. "People in Iowa did not know Chris the way we do here in Connecticut,'' said Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, who gathered with a relatively small group in Dodd's backyard before the larger event at the Gelston House. "Celebrity means a lot. The candidates with the most star power did the best on the Democratic and Republican sides.'' Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic in the 1960's.

Dodd Gets Huge Homecoming in hometown of East Haddam

Dodd Gets Huge Homecoming in East Haddam; Elbow to Elbow at Gelston House

Chris Dodd never reached rock-star status in a Democratic presidential field that includes big-name celebrities like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

But that was not evident Saturday during a homecoming at the historic Gelston House near the partially frozen Connecticut River in Dodd's hometown of East Haddam. Dodd's most loyal supporters gathered there to welcome him home in a ballroom that was elbow-to-elbow with Democratic politicos, loyalists, and longtime friends.

Dodd ended up with only 0.02 percent of the vote in Iowa, which left many of Dodd's supporters scratching their heads as they pondered the disappointing outcome for a well-known Democrat with 26 years in the United States Senate.

"People in Iowa did not know Chris the way we do here in Connecticut,'' said Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, who gathered with a relatively small group in Dodd's backyard before the larger event at the Gelston House. "Celebrity means a lot. The candidates with the most star power did the best on the Democratic and Republican sides.''

Both Clinton and Obama have increased their name-recognition by writing books that are known at the national level, and they have captured much of the air time on the national television networks. Bysiewicz says that Obama is the great orator, while Hillary is the one who works the hardest.

"He's the candidate of inspiration, and Hillary is the candidate of perspiration,'' Bysiewicz said.

Dodd's campaign spent about $13 million - a small fraction of the money raised by Clinton and Obama.

Former state Democratic chairman John Olsen said Connecticut voters will eventually forget the Quinnipiac University poll that showed that 55 percent believed that Dodd was spending too much time running for president and not enough time serving as the U.S. Senator from Connecticut. In addition, 70 percent of those surveyed in November said that Dodd should drop out of the race, including 68 percent of the Democrats polled.

"He's been a fulltime senator the whole time, in my opinion,'' Olsen said. "The Q Poll may have less to do about his performance as a Senator than as saying 'you gave it a shot. Now, come home.' ''

Virtually the entire Connecticut Democratic political establishment rallied behind Dodd, and that was evident at the Gelston House. Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams, House Majority Leader Chris Donovan, Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Comptroller Nancy Wyman, former Lt. Gov. Kevin B. Sullivan, former state Sen. Billy Ciotto, Rep. John Geragosian, Rep. "Buddy'' Altobello, former Hartford deputy mayor Nick Carbone, well-known lobbyists Steve Kinney and Jay Levin, longtime operative Roy Occhiogrosso, and Dodd's Congressional colleagues - Rosa DeLauro, John Larson, and Chris Murphy - were all in the crowd.

One of the few who was not there was Glastonbury lawyer Nick Paindiris, an activist who ran the Connecticut campaigns for John Kerry in 2004 and Bill Bradley in 2000. Paindiris says he never believed that Dodd could beat Hillary Clinton, but he thought 10 months ago that Obama could pull off the upset. At one point, Clinton had a 30-point lead in the Iowa polls.

"I kept under the radar out of respect for Chris Dodd,'' Paindiris said before a planned trip to New Hampshire to help Obama. "Nobody wanted to publicly not back Chris Dodd. Why be disrespectful? I got some resistance from a lot of people.''

Connecticut Democrats had been frozen in place during the Dodd campaign, and now Paindiris believes that many of them will be jumping onto the Obama bandwagon. In the legislature, state Senators Edwin A. Gomes of Bridgeport and Eric Coleman of Bloomfield are already former Dodd supporters who now will be voting for Obama on February 5. Like Obama, Coleman graduated from Columbia University in the Morningside Heights section of New York City.

"Now that they're free, they will exercise their free will,'' Paindiris said.

--Christopher Keating




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Story Source: Hartford Courant

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