The Dodd stealth campaign makes inroads according to this ranking by The National Journal. This is an important gauge of momentum according to Chuck Todd, editor in chief of The Hotline and Marc Ambinder, Hotline associate editor. But in these early stages the horse race is the horse race, and it’s about money and staffing. Chris Dodd is doing well with the money. But can he do better?

Edwards and Obama are heavily courting the Howard Dean/Ned Lamont/John Kery/MoveOn.org money raisers and internet pundits. Dodd will need to either break the main stream fixation on Obama and Hillary, or get some grassroots coverage. Locally, My Left Nutmeg does the better job of talking about the Dodd campaign. Connecticut Local Politics has better organization of posts. Both sites are breaking down the DNC Winter meeting, at which Dodd and the rest of the ‘08 candidates spoke, mostly getting cheers when touching on the war in Iraq.

It does seem to be kind of silly to be focused on ending the war in Iraq when it seems that the Bush administration is building up for the war in Iraq. Talking Points Memo has an interesting read on just what the Iran engagement will look like. Belgravia Dispatch offers more insight.