1.12.2007

Waiting for the "Chris Dodd Watch"

We have another Utah connection to the 2008 presidential election, but don't expect the "Chris Dodd Watch" to show up in Utah Policy Daily anytime soon.

Despite the fact that neither Mitt nor Chris are from Utah, they both have their share of Utah connections. Mitt is Mormon (automatic in, unless you're Harry Reid) and went to school here, but Chris did a much more daring thing: he married a Mormon. Not just any Mormon, but a politically active Utah Valley Republican, Jackie Clegg.

Now, I consider that just as much of a connection to Utah as good ol' Mitt, but I don't expect radio and television stations to start calling Chris Dodd "Utah's own" anytime soon. Nor do I expect Utah Policy Daily to give Chris Dodd any equal time in the right-hand column.

Do you?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You hit the nail on the head (again). If I had 48 hours in a day I'd suggest we start a rival to Utah Policy Daily, where we could include a Dodd Watch and improve the blog watch section, which has gotten really lame in the last 6 months on UPD.

P.S. It was fun meeting you the other day! Congrats :)

Anonymous said...

I've noticed, too, that the blogwatch is unimpressive these days. Guess it's too hard to work blogs in among Webb's daily Google searches ("Mitt Romney" "President Romney" "Handsome Romney"). But surely we'll be seeing the Dodd Watch; isn't it all about the Utah connection? (rolling eyes)

Anonymous said...

I'm not about to tell UPD what to put upon their site or not. However, there is more general interest in Romney than in Dodd in Utah because Romney has actually spent time living in Utah, and he was the guy that was chiefly responsible for making the 2002 SLC Olympics as successful as it was (pulling it out of an international crisis swamp).

Romney has a fairly high level of name recognition in Utah. Dodd, on the other hand, does not. If you asked the average Utahn who Chris Dodd is, they would say, "Chris who?"

Also, Romney has at least some kind of chance at ending up on the presidential ticket. Dodd has no realistic chance of getting the Democratic nomination or of being on the eventual nominee's VP short list, regardless of who that nominee is.

I guess what I am saying is that UPD probably obsesses about Romney because of his general name recognition in Utah and the fact that he has a chance of actually becoming the GOP Pres or VP nominee. Another thing to consider is that most of the political bigwigs in Utah have probably had personal interaction with Romney.

I'm not a Romney apologist. Many of his views don't gel with mine. I'm just making some observations.

Anonymous said...

Yes, UPD Blogwatch has become lame. I get enough from Utah Bloghive that I don't even have to go to UPD anymore. I also check the Newspapers out directly from their online indices.