Chris Dodd Talks About Education, Healthcare, and the Future of America's Children - New Hampshire Primary Coverage

Who is Chris Dodd? Like most voters I have to say that I do not know much about the man, who has served as in the U.S. Senate for more than a quarter century and is now running for president. So when I heard Dodd was making an appearance at the University of New Hampshire, where I attend graduate school and study Political Science, I decided to cover the event as my first assignment as a member of Gather’s Election 2008 People’s Press Corps.  

Support for Dodd’s bid for the democratic nomination has been nominal at best in New Hampshire according to recent polls, even though the senator hails from the nearby New England of Connecticut. A poll taken by the University of New Hampshire Survey earlier this fall showed support for Dodd lying at around 1 percent among likely Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire. Forty percent of these voters reported having a favorable impression of Dodd, but twenty-three percent had an unfavorable view of the candidate and nineteen percent did not know enough about him to make a judgment. Interestingly, only one percent of those polled thought the veteran senator was the candidate with the right experience to be president. Forty-seven percent of those polled reported thinking that Hillary Clinton was the candidate with the right experience to be president, although Clinton has spent far less time serving as an elected official serving at the national level.

With all this in mind I sat amidst a small crown of voters, waiting for Dodd to arrive. I listened to the conversations going on around me and heard the typical arguments made by voters attending an event for a candidate at the bottom of the polls. That the media had already picked the frontrunners and the rest of the candidates had no hope of victory. That low attendance at events like this one and low polling numbers were the fault of inexperienced or lazy campaign staffers.

But people were also talking about why they had come to see Dodd despite his bottom runner status. Voters in New Hampshire enjoy the privilege of living in an early voting primary state – a state with a proud tradition of being the “first in the nation” to vote in the presidential primary. That status has been challenged in recent years, but the candidates and the media are still focusing heavily on New Hampshire. Many voters in the Granite State feel that they have a responsibility to see every candidate, and to hear what they have to say before making up their minds. That is why New Hampshire has earned a reputation as being a place where grassroots support can make a real difference in election outcomes. Even a candidate scoring low in the polls can help their cause by making frequent appearances in front of voters in New Hampshire and presenting a strong case for their vote. Or so the legend goes.

With all of this in mind I sat waiting for Dodd to arrive. In typical presidential candidate style the senator arrived with about 50 minutes left in an event scheduled to last 90 minutes. He took to the stage and faced the small crowd. Dodd’s appearance was part of forum sponsored by the Carsey Institute and a coalition of child and education advocacy groups. A series of similar events is supposed to take place on campus, with each presidential candidate invited to talk about their positions on issues involving children, ranging from child abuse to education. Dodd was the first candidate to take part in the series of forums.

At first Dodd appeared primarily concerned with fitting in all he had to say to in the small amount of minutes remaining. He began speaking in a hurried tone, emphasizing his long history of public service as evidence that he has what it takes to be president. Indeed, I wished that I had brought along a recording device as his rapid rhetoric rushed by and my notebook began to fill with incomplete half quotes. But as time went by Dodd seemed to settle and realize that what he had to say was important, and worth taking the time to say.

One thing I learned about Dodd was that he served in the Peace Corp during the Vietnam War era, heeding a call to service from President John F. Kennedy. Dodd recalled his experiences as a member of the Peace Corps, citing them as evidence of a Golden Age in American foreign policy. An age when the U.S. used good works to increase its standing in the world. The candidate bemoaned America’s recent fall from grace in eyes of the international community, and promised that as president he would make the country a moral leader for the world once again.

Turning to the matter at the heart of the forum, Dodd said that issues related to children and education had been central to his work as senator throughout his time in Washington. Early in his senate career Dodd’s helped to organize a series of innovational public hearings held across the country and aimed at  raise public awareness about child abuse. Among his accomplishments he counted passage of the Family and Medical Leave, which he successfully passed through the Senate with the aid of Republican Senator Orin Hatch. Dodd said that it was important to help struggling families strike a balance between quality childcare and work. “Quality childcare is essential,” he told the crowd. He noted that a fellow senator had affectionately dubbed him the “children’s senator” in reference to his devotion to children’s issues. Dodd told the crowd that he understood that while most voter think the war in Iraq and other prominent issues are important, foremost on their mind is one question, “What is going to happen to my family?”

Dodd emphasized that having a well educated population is crucial to our democratic system of government. He noted that in world of increasing international competition for jobs America cannot afford to fall behind when it comes to educating our children. “If our children fall behind for a decade I am afraid this century may also see this nation fall behind,” the senator exclaimed. Dodd proposed to create a program that would ensure universal access to pre-K education programs.

Dodd also explained that he supported reforming the “No Child Left Behind Act” rather than repealing it. “I don’t want to go back to the day when there was no accountability,” he said. Dodd’s “No Child Left Behind Reform Act” would abandon the current focus on infrequent testing in favor of broader measurements of academic performance. The senator also said that teachers should be compensated more when they are willing to take on more work, such as tutoring after regular school hours. As president, Dodd promised to double the number of nationally certified teachers and to offer a $10,000 annual bonus to those willing to teach in high need schools.

Dodd believes that America needs to rethink its priorities, referring specifically to the amount of money being spent on the in Iraq. “We have to stop funding this war and start funding what America needs.” Dodd said, resulting in an outburst of applause from the crowd. In his speech Dodd explained the need to prioritize policies aimed at helping children. Referring to children, he said that, ‘They may be only one-quarter of our nation’s population, but they one hundred percent of nations future.”

Dodd told the crowd that he believes every American deserves access to quality healthcare. He noted the sad fact that the United States currently ranks 45^th in life expectancy in the world, despite the high quality of healthcare available in this country. “Every child should have access to guaranteed health insurance,” he said. Dodd promised to create a system that would provide every child in America with the same level of care he enjoys as a U.S. Senator if elected president.

Of interest to me as a graduate student were Dodd’s ideas for improving the affordability and accessibility of higher education. Although he did not focus on this issue during the event, campaign literature offered at the event did elaborate on the senator’s position. Dobbs wants to work to reduce corporate profiteering on student loans. He also has a plan to provide free access to public community colleges for student’s pursuing associates degrees. The Pell Grant would increase by a $100 per year under a Dodd administration – a token gesture that seems a little out of place in a country where students may be racking up $10,000 or more per year in student loans in order to attend college.

Overall my impression was that Dodd was speaking from the heart. It was clear he was knowledgeable about the issues and that throughout his long career he had worked to improve education, and to help American families and children in need. But at the same time I got the sense Dodd’s twenty-five plus years of service in Washington made it hard for him to identify with the problems facing the average voter. To illustrate the importance of access to quality healthcare Dodd told the crowd that his wife had been due to give birth to one of his two children on September 11, 2001. Due to the tragic nature of the events of that day Dodd and his family opted to have doctors perform a procedure that postponed the birth until several later, saving child from having to celebrate her birthday on such a day of infamy – a service paid for by the American taxpayer. As a senator for most of his adult life Dobbs has enjoyed access to services most Americans can only dream of.

I find it hard to imagine most voters identifying with man whose idea of hardship is framed within a life of such privilege. If Dodd hopes to climb in the polls he will have to learn the importance of appealing to voters on grounds they can relate to. Otherwise he appears to be just another example of the Washington elite voters have grown so tired of, whose view of the problems facing most Americans can best be described as, “Out of sight, out of mind.”

David Anderson will be covering the 2008 presidential primary for as a member of the People's Press Corps. You can find his coverage weekly in the Politics and Election08 groups here on Gather.