Upon hearing that Sen. Chris Dodd was going to be in town to talk with Joe Sestak on children’s issues, Daddy Democrat had to take the morning off from work. That’s my beat!

Besides, Dodd is by far from my favorite Senator from Connecticut.

There were a ton of people packed into the room. Children were sitting in front, and every chair was filled. The standing crowd was packed in to every bit of space, spilling out of doorways and into the adjacent hall. I was pressed into a corner by the window, behind the ABC camera man. The best part of the event was just seeing how many ordinary folk were excited to come out to an event like this on a weekday morning in vacation season.

Two brave kids kicked off the event by leading the adults in the Pledge of Allegiance. I wonder if their parents had known that room would have had a 150 people. But they did just great.

If you’re heard the four pillars of security talk from Joe before, you probably didn’t hear anything new today. (Although he did make a nice off-the-cuff save when he accidentally said the word “tailgate” instead of “tailpipe.” His excuse: “Been watching a lot of Eagles lately.”) After talking for ten minutes, he yielded the floor to Dodd, an old pro whose experienced cadence and delivery helped whip up the crowd. Dodd outlined the difficulty of getting the Republican congress to address the real needs of parents and children: the growing number of children in poverty and without insurance, the shameful response on the minimum wage, expansion of family and medical leave legislation, shortfalls in funding head start and other education programs.

Dodd said that the war in Iraq was “debilitating” America on issues of need at home. The hundreds of millions of dollars that we spend on the campaign in Iraq in one day alone could have done so much to improve the lives of children and their families.

I have pictures, which I’ll post later. (Doggone card reader isn’t working.) Also, the event was taped by PCN, so keep an eye on the schedule. The camera man said that it might be on the air later tonight.