Essential Estrogen

Iowan Jack Engstrom spent more than an hour listening to Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd speak and answer questions during a campaign stop in Fairfield. The undecided caucus-goer didn't have much to say during the event, but nodded in agreement as Dodd made points on Iraq, recent votes in the U.S. Senate and domestic policy.

"I haven't decided who I'm going to support," Engstrom said as he was leaving. "But I'm very impressed with Chris Dodd."

Engstrom, like most Iowans, has had an opportunity to meet most of the candidates, but he said he does not plan to make a caucus night decision until he's heard them all. The candidate he hasn't had opportunity to see in person is Delaware Sen. Joe Biden.

"This was my first time seeing Chris Dodd," he said. "Before tonight I had read one flier and it didn't impress me much when I first saw it. The flier alluded to John F. Kennedy and so-forth. Now, having seen Dodd, I can buy into that association more and in a way I couldn't by just having seen the flier. He is historically well read and, I think, he tries to live the legacy of America being a great nation."

After hearing Dodd speak, Engstrom made a point of meeting the senator one-on-one.

"I felt that his opinions were well-reasoned, based on experience and in-line with what I also believe," he said. "I went up and shook his hand and told him that I commended him on his intelligence, his passion and his commitment. What I found appealing: a combination of his opinions on many issues. It's also his character and his ability to put that into constructive action. He obviously feels deeply about these issues and I think that type of passion, intelligence, commitment and heart could bring us in a good direction and might even strike a nerve in the republic."

Fairfield resident Carole Simmons said she was happy to hear Dodd speak on foreign policy.

"I came tonight so I could ask about Iran," she said. "I haven't heard the major front-runners talking about Iran and, you know, it is easy now to say Iraq was a mistake. It looks like we're just about to make another huge, colossal, stupid mistake in Iran if the White House gets its way. I was glad to hear Dodd say that absolutely we need to be following diplomacy and not just rushing off to throw our weight around."

The vast majority of Dodd's public remarks were spent on foreign policy. Many of the questions he fielded after his speech were follow-ups to his statements on Iraq, the recent action by the U.S. Senate to declare Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization and foreign policy as a whole.

"The most important job of America's president is to keep us safe and secure," Dodd said. "[The president] should keep us less vulnerable and less isolated around the world. And I believe very strongly that over the last six years -- and especially during the last four and a half years during this conflict -- that we are less secure, less safe, more vulnerable and more isolated as a result of our continued military presence."

Dodd had strong words not only against the current administration's foreign policies, but for New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards for their response during a recent debate. Dodd said he was "stunned" when the other candidates did not agree they would have combat troops out of Iraq the end of their first term as president.

"I fully expected by the time they got to me -- because normally they don't get to me [in the debates] very quickly -- that the question would already be adequately answered," he said. "I was stunned that the so-called three leading candidates for this nomination answered that they would not make that commitment. That's six or seven years from now. I will tell you this evening -- just as I said at Dartmouth -- absolutely. I hope we don't have to wait for 2009, much less 2013. I believe this tactic of our military presence is a massive mistake for this country and it ought to end."

The Dodd campaign has indicated that, barring any emergencies in the Senate, Dodd will be spending a vast majority of his time in the Hawkeye State between now and the caucuses.