Chris Dodd in Fox News Sunday, "Choosing the President" interviews

On Energy & Oil: Carbon tax of $50B/year to make alternatives competitive

A: Well, not really. Look, the great barrier to moving away from our dependency on foreign oil coming out of the Middle East and elsewhere is price. The great elasticity in the price of oil can be anywhere from $70 a barrel down to $20 a barrel at still make profits at it. So any time renewable & alternative energies come along to be competitive economically, that price of fossil fuels can drop & make them less competitive. A tax on polluting emissions would allow alternative ideas to be competitive with them economically. You can’t do that unless there’s a carbon tax. I know it’s tough. But the carbon tax and a 50-mile-per-gallon standard that I’m also advocating here on automobiles will help us get there very quickly, in my view.

On Energy & Oil: Gas tax its consumers too directly; tax carbon instead

A: Well, I think there’s a better way of doing it, and that’s why at the corporate carbon tax level, that money, that $50 billion to $100 billion, which is a lot less than the money we’re paying today to countries in hostile parts of the world, would allow us to invest in a fast track to develop these technologies, provide the kind of financial relief to people out there who want to make these other choices but, frankly, can’t afford to make them and provide the assistance to some of these people producing these polluting emissions, to allow them to make that transition here, many of whom want to make that transition. A direct tax on gasoline -- obviously, that’s going to hit consumers very directly. This proposal is less direct, provides relief for consumers, as well as allows us to invest these dollars in the technologies that I think we can bring online very, very quickly.

On Principles & Values: Americans aren’t divided; our political establishment is

A: The core platform is to get America back on track again both at home and abroad, with strong leadership that knows how to bring people together. Americans aren’t divided. Our political establishment is. Americans want to see us solve the problems of energy and health care, make us less vulnerable, less isolated in the world. We want to once again feel good about our country and leave a generation coming along with more opportunities than the present.

On War & Peace: Iraq civil war is Shia vs. Sunni, not US versus Al Qaida

A: Not at all. This is a civil war going on in Iraq. This is not the US versus Al Qaida. It’s Shia versus Sunnis tearing each other apart. It’s gone on for centuries, but particularly here right now. The US is being asked to, in a sense, referee a civil war. And at $2 billion a week, $8 billion a month, Americans believe that we have done all we can possibly do, and Iraqis have to decide whether or not they want to end this civil war and the sectarian violence. The idea that this is a winnable conflict by the US -- every military leader from the very outset have said this is not a situation where there’s a military victory for us here. So the point has arrived, I think, for all of us that the status quo is unacceptable and that we should begin redeploying our troops.

On War & Peace: Al Qaida wants us bogged down in Iraq; go after bin Laden

A: Well, why not go to the place where Al Qaida really poses some threats? Why not go after Osama bin Laden where we know he’s hiding out, instead of being bogged down in a situation where we’re being used and isolated -- and radicalizing elements in that part of the world -- more and more every single day? A change is necessary here, Chris. And clarity in that change I think is what has been missing here. I think too many Iraqis, Sunnis and Shias, would like us to stay there to satisfy their own particular interests. I think it’s after four years, after $400 billion -- $2 billion a week, $8 billion a month -- we clearly need a change in strategy here. This present status quo is not working at all.