Connecticut Local Politics

A couple of days ago I posted about the Daily Show page on Chris Dodd’s website. After countless stale blog posts from the Dodd campaign it was refreshing to see. Apparently I’m not the only person who thought so. Several national political blogs took note of the page, as well as the Washington Post. Even the Comedy Central blog piped in with praise.

This was a fascinating look behind the scenes of the show even for us, and a surprisingly cool thing for a Presidential candidate to do. Senator Dodd, we salute both your commitment to fiscal responsibility and your web-savvy.

I had high hopes for the Internet operation of Dodd’s campaign, especially when I learned that they’d hired Lamont’s Internet Communications Director Tim Tagaris to do Internet for them. I visit Dodd’s site daily, but up until now I’ve been frustrated by the total lack of interesting content and coverage. Last month the Hotline blog had a headline about Dodd that read: What does Tim Tagaris get paid for again? It was harsh, but they were pointing out the obvious. Why hire someone whose talents clearly weren’t being utilized?

I used to have a low opinion of campaign blogs and web sites; Lamont’s campaign blog convinced me of their potential. When done right, a campaign’s Internet presence creates a narrative around the candidate, and makes the campaign more accessible to users. People who are interested enough to visit an official site want more than just information. They want a window into the campaign. They want to understand why someone would put themselves through a run for national office. Most important, they want to get a sense of who the person actually is.

Chris Dodd can’t knock on the door of every voter in America. He can’t even talk to everyone in a particular State. What he can do is put a bit more of himself out on the web. Dodd has many qualities that would make him a great President. He’s also a likable personality. Until now we haven’t seen much of what makes Dodd and his campaign unique. That’s disappointing. I’m not committed to any candidate yet, but I want to get a better sense of Dodd and I want Democrats across the nation to be able to get to know him.

The Daily Show page was a step in the right direction. In the coming weeks and months I hope to see more content in that vein, and less of the news roundup posts. Yes, it’s good to hear what the press and blogs are saying about Dodd, but I can find that through a Google news search. I want to know what Chris Dodd has to say about himself, and there’s no better way to do that than on his own site.