Presidential campaign provides mantle for Senator's move to hold corporate spies accountable Nick Juliano

Published: Friday November 2, 2007



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Print This Email This Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd may be polling below the margin of error, but his presidential bid has provided a podium for his moves in the Senate to curtail President Bush's power grab. Selling himself as a dark horse alternative to the frontrunners, Dodd has used his presence on the campaign trail to raise the visibility of his attempts to block administration proposals are restore what he says have been crumbling Constitutional rights in the last seven years. The Connecticut Senator's recent promise to filibuster a foreign surveillance law that would grant legal immunity to phone and internet companies that helped the NSA spy on Americans without warrants has helped raise his profile, especially among progressive bloggers and liberal activists. "People online have been clamoring for [candidates] not just to say the right things, but to do the right things," campaign spokesman Matt Browner Hamlin told RAW STORY . Dodd announced he would put a "hold" on an update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act if it contained telecom immunity when a bill was introduced Oct. 18. Within 36 hours, his campaign raised more than $200,000. "People are speaking with their wallets, and they want to support this campaign as it continues to move forward," Browner Hamlin said. Although the FISA debate isn't a deciding issue for enough voters to make a difference on its own, Dodd's campaign is using the opportunity to remind voters of his calls to curtail Iraq war funding and restore habeas corpus. Dodd is embracing the support he is receiving from his party's left flank, in the Senate and on the campaign trail. In a recent e-mail appeal sent to Democracy for America members, Dodd said he was more concerned about the FISA fight than his performance in their presidential straw poll. "This might not be customary, but my ask isn't that you vote for me in the Pulse Poll, it is that you let Democracy for America HQ know how you feel about our fight to restore the Constitution and preserve the rule of law," Dodd wrote. "...I've been supported in this effort [to block the FISA update] by MoveOn, the ACLU, Glenn Greenwald, Atrios, the team at Firedoglake, Open Left, the Daily Kos community and countless other bloggers." The effort has been resonating on the Hill, too. House aides tell RAW STORY that Dodd's efforts have strengthened the resolve of Democrats in that chamber to keep telecom out of their bill. Dodd recently told NBC's Meet the Press he feels "very good" about where the campaign is now, and he pointed out that eventual nominee John Kerry was lagging far behind in the polls this far out before the 2004 Iowa caucus. Meanwhile, the five-term senator remains focused on the tasks before him, which include introducing legislation and continuing to stand up to the administration, Browner Hamlin says. "A lot of what Sen. Dodd has done throughout the campaign is continue to do his job."

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