Democratic candidate Chris Dodd says the next president must find a way to overcome differences and enact health care reform. "It’s a question of bringing people together to get the job done. We often talk as if we are going to govern by ourselves, with no one else around and so we talk about our ideas as if no one else had any other ideas," Dodd says. "…I don’t want to go through another four or eight years talking about health care…and nothing happening as a result."

On Monday afternoon, Dodd golfed in the Iowa Professional Fire Fighters golf tournament in Iowa City, then last night Dodd met with about 50 people gathered in the home of Cedar Rapids mayor Kay Halloran. Dodd stressed the need for an increase in federal grants and loans for college students.

"An ignorant population will not sustain and support the subtleties of our governments here," Dodd told the Cedar Rapids crowd. "So beyond our economic needs as a people, it’s really important we get this right…Last year, a quarter of a million children in the United States graduated from high school, (were) accepted to go on to college and didn’t go because of cost. This is deeply, deeply troubling to me."

Dodd, a U.S. Senator from Connecticut, flew back to Washington for today’s Senate vote on proposed changes in labor union elections.