I watched the Charlie Rose interviews with Senator Chris Dodd last week, and I was quite impressed with his knowledge and demeanor; he's dignified and has gravitas, but still seems down-to-earth, sensible and accessible. (I'm hoping Charlie Rose will do similar interviews with all the candidates; it's a great way to get a sense of their character.)

Dodd also has a great deal of foreign policy experience, having served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for years. You know that'll be an issue that the Republicans will try to exploit to their advantage in the general election, but it would be hard for anyone to pull off an attack on foreign policy experience successfully against Dodd (as opposed to our current Dem frontrunners). He seems to be in the right place on the war (although he did initially vote for the Authorization, he's out in front of the other Dem candidates now in trying to end the war), and he's got other postitives, such as his authorship of the Family Medical Leave Act. His campaign just doesn't seem to have taken off. But why not Dodd?

Please note that I haven't yet decided who to vote for, so I'm not really posting this as a Dodd supporter (at least not yet). I hadn't paid much attention to Dodd, in all honesty, previous to the airing of the program. It was just such a pleasant surprise to hear the interview (and I'm uncomfortable with the frontrunners having been all but crowned by the media already), so I wanted to pose the question, to see what others here at TPM Cafe think.

Dodd was on Charlie Rose's show for two nights in a row, and there are plans to have him back again for another hour featuring an informal discussion between Dodd and McCain. Here's a link to google video of both night's interviews:

• September 11 Segment
• September 12 Segment

(The videos also have some interesting discussion about the Petraeus/Crocker testimony in the first half hour of each.)

I hadn't realized that Dodd's father was a prosecutor at the Nuremburg Nazi war crime tribunals. Dodd also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Latin America (he speaks Spanish, another plus), as well as doing a stint in the National Guard and Reserves. His position on most issues seems pretty solid.

In character, demeanor and experience, Dodd seems like the polar opposite of Bush - just the sort of Democratic candidate we need, especially to attract those independents as disgusted with these long years of Bush as we liberals are. So, tell me, why not Dodd?