A Tale of Two (Minor) Candidates

Two, non-front-running candidates have recently gotten a bit of attention-- Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. Ron Paul.

Dodd was interviewed by Glenn Greenwald (transcript & discussion here and here), and also by TPM (video). Turns out-- something I did not previously know-- that the hallmark of Sen. Dodd's campaign has been his emphasis on protecting the Constitution, and restoring adherence to it after the depredations of The Regime. Sadly, however, I found Dodd's comments to Greenwald to be so rambling and indirect as to be practically unintelligible; and the video interview is not much better. Most startling was the seeming lack of passion in the man.

By contrast, this TPM-linked video of Ron Paul, expressing his opposition to the war and the continuing occupation of Iraq, is full of intelligible passion. As Josh Marshall says, ". . . There's something of a bipartisan Ron Paul cult springing up online. And I'm not joining. But I can see why it's there."

Dodd's cause celebre is no less worthy or important than Paul's: indeed, the matter of Constitutional government in this country is more fundamental. I think only John Edwards comes close to Ron Paul's energy (and maybe Sen. Obama)-- but still. How hard is this?