Jan 11, 2007 3:00 am US/Pacific
Sen. Christopher Dodd Makes Run For Presidency
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) ―
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Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) said he would formally file for candidacy today. Dodd has served in the Senate for 25 years.
AP
Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd announced Thursday that he will seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.
Dodd made the announcement on the "Imus in the Morning" show, a syndicated radio program that originates from New York radio station WFAN-AM.
"I'm going to file today formally papers of candidacy. I'm going to skip this exploratory phase that a lot of people go through and become a full-fledged candidate for the presidency," Dodd said.
Dodd said that he came to his decision to run because there's a sense of urgency about foreign and domestic problems.
"It just isn't Iraq. The problems here at home that are huge obviously in terms of working people, their jobs, their future. They're worried about their kids," Dodd said.
"Let's just say that regardless of what income level you're in there's a sense that things aren't going as well as they should here and abroad," Dodd said.
Dodd, 62, has served in the Senate for 25 years and is a former Democratic National Committee chairman. His father, Thomas Dodd, was also a Connecticut senator.
Dodd is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic during the 1960s. He is a leading voice in the Senate on Latin American issues. He is also known for his work on health care and children's issues.
Dodd will travel late Thursday to Iowa, which will host the first presidential nominating caucus next January. He heads to South Carolina, an early primary state, on Sunday.
The 26-year Senate veteran enters a growing Democratic field overshadowed by two likely candidates - Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois. Outgoing Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack has already announced his candidacy, as have former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
Throughout his decades-long career in Washington, the Connecticut senator has forged strong ties with labor unions, championed fiscal accountability for corporations and championed education and other children's issues. This month, he became chairman of the influential Senate Banking Committee and is a senior member of the Foreign Relations Committee.
Dodd voted in 2002 to authorize military intervention in Iraq, but has become an outspoken critic of the war and now calls his vote a mistake. He has said he would oppose an escalation of U.S. forces in Iraq and has said Congress should consider withholding funding for such a troop increase.
Dodd has been politically active on behalf of other Democrats, raising money and campaigning for candidates across the country and chaired the Democratic National Committee from 1995-96.
In 1974, he was elected to the House at the age of 30, part of a Democratic tide after the Watergate scandal and President Nixon's resignation. His father, Thomas Dodd, served as a senator for two terms.
Dodd and his wife, Jackie Marie Clegg, have two daughters, ages 5 and 22 months.
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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