Christopher Dodd - 2008 Democratic Presidential Candidate

The Peace Corps, Y2K, and the Dodd Pod

Senator Christopher Dodd is one of the Democratic candidates in the 2008 Presidential election. He was born in Willimantic, Connecticut in 1944. His parents, Senator Thomas Joseph Dodd and Mary Murphy Dodd were Irish-Americans. All of Senator Dodd's great-grandparents were born in Ireland. Dodd graduated from Providence College in 1966 with a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature.

Crediting the impact of President John Kennedy's inaugural adress, Dodd joined the Peace Corps in 1968 and served for two years in a small town in the Dominican Republic, where he became fluent in Spanish. Chris Dodd served in the Army National Guard upon returning home from his Peace Corps commitment and later served in the U.S. Army Reserves. Dodd earned a Juris Doctor athte University of Louisville in 1972.

Senator Dodd is a recipient of the Edmund S. Muskie Distinguished Public Service Award recognizing leadership in foreign policy. Dodd served in the House of Representatives from 1975 to 1981. He was elected to the Senate in 1980, where he is the senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Dodd is Chair of the Senate Banking Committee which gives him ties to the banking, insurance and financial services industries. Dodd is the co-author, with Robert F. Bennett, of The Senate Special Report on Y2K, published in 1999 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

According to wikipedia.com, "Dodd, along with Senators Patrick Leahy, Russ Feingold, and Robert Menendez introduced the "Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007", which he claims "restores Habeas Corpus rights, bars evidence gained through torture or coercion and reinstates U.S. adherence to the Geneva Conventions in order to protect the nation's military personnel abroad." The bill is supported by the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First."