Chris Dodd
Biography:
Born: May 27,1944, Willimantic, Connecticut.
Party: Democrat
Family: Married to Jackie Clegg Dodd, with two children, Grace and Christina.
History: The son of a former senator, Chris Dodd is an old hand in the U.S. Congress himself.
He began his tenure in 1974, when he won a House seat in the wake of Richard Nixon's resignation, then moved on to the upper chamber in 1980.
A former Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republican in the 1960s, Dodd speaks Spanish and has immersed himself in Latin American policy.
He opposed aid to the Nicaraguan contras in the 1980s and backs an end to the trade embargo on Cuba. He now occupies a prominent spot on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Dodd also chairs the Senate banking committee and has been active on banking, insurance and securities issues, too.
After 9/11, he was a leader in getting a bill passed that was aimed at making easier to get insurance against acts of terrorism.
Dodd voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq, but has since called his vote a mistake and has urged a prompt withdrawal of troops and an aggressive policy of using Congress's power of the purse to bring the war to an end.
He's also urged a "surge in diplomacy" in the Middle East.
Dodd isn't as well known as the frontrunners in the Democratic race, but he turned in a respectable first quarter of fundraising even though he is far behind the leaders.
This is Dodd's first bid for president, but he's taken party leadership posts before. He headed the Democratic National Committee during the Clinton White House years.
Biography: Quad-City Times | Photo: AP
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