By PHILIP ELLIOTT
The Associated Press
Saturday, January 20, 2007; 6:05 PM
HOOKSETT, N.H. -- Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut made it through two questions at a Saturday morning coffee in New Hampshire before he was asked the inevitable.
Sitting in a living room, state Rep. Eileen Ehlers asked if Dodd has the qualities _ meaning, profile _ to win his party's nomination in a Democratic field crowded with bigger names.
"At one point, if I'd stood here with 25 years experience in the U.S. Senate, that would have been the end of it," said Dodd, making his first trip to the first primary state since announcing his candidacy last week. "This is not a warm up for me. I'm 62. For me, I'm not asking for your support so I can run again in four or eight years."
But with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton announcing her creation of an exploratory committee earlier in the day, Sen. Barack Obama's rock star-style visit to New Hampshire in December and Dodd's limp poll numbers, the white-haired veteran acknowledged his challenges.
"I know there are others who are better known than me, but I want you to give me a chance," Dodd said. "As my mother told me, comparisons are odious, so I will stay away from that."
Though he tried to stay away from the comparisons, his audiences didn't.
"You have everything going for you except one thing: You're a New England liberal," said Gary Patton, chairman of the Hampton Democrats.
In another audience in Dover, the chatter was about Clinton, who announced she would file papers to form an exploratory committee.
"I'm not one for exploratory committees," Dodd said. "You're in or you're not."
Dodd also sought to emphasize his experience in the Senate and his voting record, in an apparent veiled reference to Obama, who has been in the Senate for two years.
"This is not the time for on-the-job training," he said. "We've been through that." Later, when answering a reporter's question about the comment, Dodd said, "I'll let Barack make the case for himself."
After all, the primary is a year away, he said.
"This is a long process. There's 12 months before the primary," Dodd said. "I don't think people in this state want to hear this campaign is over. ... Anyone who tells you with certainty what is going to happen a year from now is certainly wrong."