Chris Dodd on ice

by James Oliphant

DES MOINES--Some campaign events invite cynicism at the outset. But it's hard to be jaded about small kids in ice skates.

Maybe Chris Dodd is counting on that, on his presidential ambitions being carried aloft by the warm feelings brought about by pure dose of Christmas. His campaign hosted an ice skating party here at a downtown outdoor rink Tuesday.

Dodd spent more than an hour on skates, circling with his daughter Grace. And Grace, 6, was holding her own. "She doesn't have to stop," Dodd said. "She keeps going and going." Dodd said it had been 25 years since he had put on skates.

Meanwhile Dodd's wife Jackie pushed their youngest daughter, a very nervous Christina, 2, around in a plastic folding chair.

Dodd's campaign needs a Christmas miracle. But his staff is counting on a rush of undecided voters. "The decision-making process is later than ever this time," said Iowa field director Julie Andreef Jensen. He will make a final week push, concentrating on rural caucus-goers.

Dodd is running on his more than 30 years in Congress. He took a shot at Sen. Hillary Clinton boasting about her experience. "You have to do more than talk about it," he said.

With the sun setting on Christmas Day and the laughter of children skating, it felt like, for a moment, tranquility had visited Iowa. That all changes today when the campaigning begins again in earnest.