Associated Press
12-02-07
CHRIS DODD, Washington insider, followed father's footsteps
By DAVID LIGHTMAN
WASHINGTON -- When he was a rookie U.S. senator in 1981, Christopher Dodd
eagerly opposed Dr. C. Everett Koop's nomination to be surgeon general,
arguing that "his personal beliefs would keep him from impartial judgments."
Koop, whom the news media described as "a noted anti-abortionist" at the time,
won confirmation easily and turned out to be a popular, articulate healthcare
spokesman. A few months later, a chastened Dodd sent him a note, apologizing.
"I voted against him, and I regret it," Dodd would say, "because he turned out to
be one fine surgeon general."
The story is vintage Dodd. "He sees the big picture, and he works on a very
human scale," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., a longtime friend and
confidante.
But the Koop story also illustrates what skeptics say is Dodd's biggest weakness:
He's too much a creature of Washington.
"All he has is Washington experience, and that's an enormous burden," said
Steffan Schmidt, a political science professor at Iowa State University. "His
image outside Washington is that he's a tax-and-spend liberal."
Dodd counters that that's too simplistic, but Washington has unquestionably
shaped him. Dodd's political roots stretch back to his father, Sen. Thomas Dodd
of Connecticut, who served from 1959 to 1971. His career was broken in 1967,
when the Senate censured him for using campaign money for personal
purposes.
Tom Dodd never recovered: He lost his 1970 re-election bid badly and died at
age 64, five months after he left office.
His son made it his mission to restore honor to his father and their name.
"Sometimes, I think almost everything Chris Dodd does down here is meant to
vindicate his father," said Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, who served with both
men. Chris Dodd sits at his father's desk in his Senate office, and an illuminated
life-size portrait of Tom Dodd hangs there.
Equally important, though, is how Dodd grew up watching and enjoying the
peculiar rhythms of the U.S. Capitol.
He loved the action, the process, the people. When he was 30 in 1974, he
triumphed in a tough primary and won an eastern Connecticut seat in the House.
Six years later, when Democratic incumbents were falling as rarely before in the
20th century, Dodd became one of two freshman Democrats elected to the
Senate.
Chris Dodd
Democratic presidential candidate
Early years
Born: May 27, 1944, in Willimantic, Conn.; father was Sen. Thomas J. Dodd
Education: B.A., Providence College, 1966; law degree, University of Louisville,
1972
Civil and military service: Peace Corps, 1966-68; Army Reserve, 1968-75
Political career
1975-81: U.S. House
1981-present: U.S. senator; chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban
Affairs Committee and senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee; chief Senate sponsor of the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act;
influential in education reform, Latin American relations
2007: Announces candidacy for president
Sources: Chris Dodd for President, The Associated Press