Chris Dodd for President

Yesterday's Daily Kos straw poll showed Senator Dodd surging into second place in the poll, tripling last month's performance, to 21% support with over 12,000 people voting.

dKos Reader Poll. 10/22 -- 10:24 a.m. to 1:22 p.m. PT. 12,369 respondents.

            2007                                     2006

            Oct Sept Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan Dec Jul

Edwards      31  39  34  36  40  39  42  38  26  35  28  15
Dodd         21   7   0   1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
Obama        16  21  29  27  22  24  25  26  25  28  28
H. Clinton    9  11   8   9   6   6   3   3   4   4   5   2
Other         6   5   7   9   6   5   9   8   *   *   3   6
Don't Know    5   5   5   7   7   5   8   6   *   *   3   4
Kucinich      5   6   4   3   2   2   2   4
Richardson    2   1   6   5   8  13   8   6   5   4   2   1
Biden         1   1   1   0   0   0   0   1   0   1   1   1
Gravel        0   0   0   1   1   3   0   0   0   0   0

It's not a stretch to say that we're ecstatic here at the Dodd campaign with these results. But this hasn't come out of the blue.

Chris Dodd's work to stop the illegal wiretapping bill and on ending the war with a firm enforceable is resonating with Americans who feel a sense of frustration that Congress hasn't followed through on its mandate to change the direction of the country. It's this type of leadership that offers clarity and boldness, combined with his ability to get results, that sets Chris Dodd apart from the field and that will earn him the nomination.

This poll represents the strong, growing support that exists for Chris Dodd in the netroots. The netroots are a community of Democratic and progressive activists, a hyper-informed group that is distributed around the country, but is very influential and socially connected to large numbers of people. In academic terms, a great deal of bloggers and blog readers are "poli-influentials" and "community hubs" -- the best kind of advocates for a campaign trying to reach out to voters who are ideologically similar to their candidate. Dodd's support in the Kos poll comes after months of hard work, issue leadership, and action fighting for issue the netroots care about.

Ari Melber, writing at the Huffington Post, explains why Dodd is likely to get this kind of support online:

Dodd is well positioned to benefit from the online attention. He's already been leading on the netroots' three major priorities: Iraq, the Constitution and Proud Aggressive Politics. As an agenda, that boils down to: End the war, Defend the Constitution and instead of apologizing for your beliefs, Fight like hell when opponents attack you or the country. Alert readers will note these are key items for plenty of Democratic voters offline.

I think Melber's spot-on. In my travels with Senator Dodd around the country -- including extensive time in rural Iowa and New Hampshire -- these issues have come up at effectively every event I've been at. Americans are sick and tired of this war and the Bush administration's abuses of the Constitution. They're fed up with Democrats' inability to follow through on campaign promises to change course in Iraq and bring our troops home. They want to see someone stand up for the rule of law and stop the flow of power towards this President and his political appointees. But most of all, they want to see leadership through action and unapologetic commitment to Democratic principles. That is, the results we see online are just another manifestation of sentiments seen and felt by Democratic voters around the country offline.

Chris Dodd has been out front, leading with clarity and conviction. From his Restoring the Constitution Act and the citizen generated whip count around the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act, to the Dodd amendment and a commitment to not vote for another dollar for war in Iraq without there being a time line for withdrawal tied to funding, to his passionate and principled defense of the netroots against Bill O'Reilly's attacks -- Chris Dodd has built a clear record this campaign of being the only candidate who's proving to the the Democratic base that he's a guy who they can trust as President to stand with them on the issues that matter most.

That's why I can safely say that Dodd's meteoric rise over the last two months in the Kos straw poll has staying power. Dodd has earned this. His leadership on FISA may be a tipping point, but it's also an opportunity for many people to take a good, hard look at Chris Dodd's record and find even more reasons to support him as their candidate. And let's not forget, Chris Dodd is still the only candidate who has made restoring the Constitution and standing up for the rule of law a driving factor in his Presidential campaign. He will continue to fight against telecom amnesty and will stand firm in his defense of the Constitution when it comes to stopping torture, closing Guantanamo, honoring the Geneva Conventions, and only approving Bush administration appointees who understand how the Constitution works. That means Dodd will continue to be right there with people of all political stripes who think that the Constitution demands protection from people who swear an oath of office to uphold it.