I got a flyer in the mail today for Chris Dodd for President. Dodd, a Democrat, showed me with his flyer that he really, really doesn't want to win this election. The flyer DID have one good feature, a big picture of John F. Kennedy on the front side. This picture is at least likely to get peoples' attention when they see it. However, the back side, which was information about his the platform he is running with was far from inspiring.

Apparently, Chris Dodd was in the Peace Corps when he was younger. (Look anywhere you see his name and you're bound to see this fact). His platform appears to be based on "a call to service". He's interested in increasing the number of participants in the Peace Corps and Americorps, but the method which he suggest to do this is the best part. He wants to require ALL high school students to perform MANDATORY service work. Has he ever met a high school student before? Most of them don't have desire to perform service work, and anytime you make something mandatory, people like the idea even less (especially teenagers who hate being ruled). Having people forced into service work might actually be more of a hassle for these organizations as the kids won't be very motivated.

Anyway, to me, this seems like a disaster campaign. Why is he not focusing on the issues currently in the spotlight such as war, energy prices, the environment, and health care? These are the issues that will get you noticed and elected.

Perhaps he understands that since he is not Hillary or Obama, he has no shot anyway so he might as well try some goofy platform. Perhaps he just wants to waste some money. Or maybe he's actually delusional and thinks that this will win voters.

Whatever the case, he (and most other candidates) should take a cue from former Iowa Governor, Tom Vilsack, and drop out before they waste too much time and money.