Momentum Builds for Dodd Run at Majority Leader

[babylonsister]

Momentum Builds for Dodd Run at Majority Leader

Posted by Sam Stein, HuffingtonPost.com at 5:10 PM on December 19, 2007.

After Dodd forced reconsideration of the surveillance legislation, by arguing for eight hours, he left many prominent bloggers yearning for more.


As the political season reaches its Iowa caucus climax, momentum is building for Sen. Chris Dodd to parlay his presidential campaign into a bid to challenge Sen. Harry Reid, D-NV, for Majority Leader.

Almost all of the support for this effort now comes from the netroots, much of which favors such a move. But talk of Dodd making a run at the post has slowly crept into the corners of Capitol Hill as well. And in light of the Connecticut Democrat's successful filibuster threat this week over granting immunity to telecommunications firms that conducted warrantless surveillance, some in the progressive community see the framework for a potential shakeup.

"Dodd is an effective legislator, he is practiced and experienced and is articulate," said Joan Claybrook, president of the nonprofit group, Public Citizen. "He also knows how to make the process work. I think Harry Reid has an entirely different style and likes to work things out behind the scenes. He's had to be a negotiator and people don't like that sometimes. They want to see someone take a stand and win, but that is hard in this Congress and with these issues."

Claybrook, it should be noted, made no endorsement. And Dodd's campaign and close advisers insist that he is not focused on anything other than the presidential race.

"Senator Dodd and his campaign supporters, staff and family are 100 percent focused on the Iowa caucus and winning this nomination," Dodd's spokesperson Colleen Flanagan told the Huffington Post.

And yet, after Dodd forced reconsideration of the surveillance legislation - by arguing for eight hours and threatening to go longer - he left many prominent bloggers yearning for more.

more...

http://alternet.org/blogs/peek/71123/#more

[Occam Bandage]

1. ...among bloggers. Yawn.

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. How many of those bloggers will be US Senators in 2009?

:shrug:

[K Gardner]

14. More than a dozen, I hope. n/t

[Truth2Tell]

23. How 'bout in 2021?

Sometimes revolutions simmer for awhile before they boil over. :)

[Missy Vixen]

11. Firedoglake.com is read by more than a quarter of a million people per week

They're one blog. I'd love to have readership numbers for some of the others like dailyKOS and HuffPo. Bloggers are driving the effort to hold our electeds accountable.

I think Senator Dodd would be an outstanding Majority Leader.

Julie

[Occam Bandage]

15. I think he would be a good ML too.

But I would think "momentum" would be some indication that Senators are even considering replacing Reid. The blogs can scream until they faint, but until the Democratic Senate Caucus decides it wants a different leader, Reid is going to stay.

[Missy Vixen]

28. Blogs will drive that effort

Maybe I'm biased because I'm also a blogger, but the concerted effort on the part of over 100 blogs (if my numbers are correct,) kept up the pressure, supported Senator Dodd's effort, and we got Harry Reid to pull the telecom bill.

I still believe that bloggers (and those who read them,) are changing the status quo.

Occam Bandage, I love your username; it's great!

Julie

[Stinky The Clown]

2. I can get behind this idea

[rurallib]

12. Thought I was the only one with this idea

Will be able to thank him personally Sunday.

[AnnieBW]

3. I'd rather have him as President

But I'd settle for him as Majority Leader.

[Pale Blue Dot]

4. I would absolutely support Dodd.

No question.

[madokie]

5. I'd like to see it

[Double T]

6. Dodd would be a much better choice than Reid.........

BUT I'm afraid the Dems have blown their chances for retaining majority control in the House and Senate because of their horrendously low approval numbers.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Eeek!! Too liberal!! Too liberal!!! What would the Blue Poodlles think???

[havocmom]

8. Off to the greatest page wit youse & Sen Dodd

;)

[lonestarnot]

9. Oh HELL YEAH!

:applause: Excellent!

[riverdeep]

13. I found out yesterday Harry Reid used to be an amateur boxer.

That surprised the hell out of me. I can't picture him fighting anything except a cold.

Reid was not born into a Mormon family and did not join the church until he was a student at Utah State University in Logan. After a rough and tumble upbringing in the mining town of Searchlight, Reid became an amateur boxer and has acknowledged getting "called out" from bars in his youth.

"I am, by nature, somebody that ... I was raised where you settled your differences physically, and I still have a little of that in me and I'm fighting that all the time. I don't want to be mean to people," he said.

http://www.adherents.com/largecom/lds_Reid.html

[jgraz]

17. His style was to punch himself in the face until the other guy laughed himself unconscious

[Zorra]

19. LOL. Almost ruined my keyboard. n/t

[nashville_brook]

25. that made my day!

[high density]

16. It would be great

But what are the chances of this? Zero?

[jgraz]

18. Dodd as SML, Kucinich as Speaker

Or Barbara Boxer and Barbara Lee. Anybody but Pelosi and Reid.

[CitizenLeft]

20. He'd be a great choice

I'm all for it. LOVE it. Wish I had a say, LOL.

[Sam Ervin jret]

21. now we're talkin'

[rockybelt]

22. That is more than I can hope for. nt

[AspenRose]

24. Not a bad idea at all.

eom

[RainDog]

26. Run Run Rudolph

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGirb_wgkcw

Out of all the reindeers
You know you're the mastermind
Run Run Rudolph
Lieberman ain't too far behind

Run run Rudolph
Dodd's got to make it to town
Dodd make him hurry
Tell him he can take the freeway down
Run run Rudolph
'Cause Reid is like a merry go round

[Hippo_Tron]

27. He challenged Daschle for the job a few years back, I think he'd be an improvement over Reid

[ellisonz]

29. Durbin > Dodd.