Chris Dodd represents Connecticut in the US Senate, but he’s having to look elsewhere for support for re-election.  In the first quarter of 2009, Dodd got over $600,000 in donations for his 2010 re-election campaign from almost 400 people.  Only five of them come from Dodd’s state:

Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd appears to have looked everywhere but his home state to fuel what pundits anticipate will be one of the most hotly contested races in the nation in 2010.

The five-term incumbent reported raising just $4,250 from five Connecticut residents during the first three months of the year while raking in $604,745 from nearly 400 individuals living outside the state.

While incumbents often turn to special interests for early campaign fundraising, Dodd’s out-of-state total seems unusually high and comes at a time when he has been plagued by poor approval ratings among state voters.

In fact, Dodd did better in 18 other states and in DC than he did in Connecticut.  Barney Frank helped him get his best haul in Massachusetts, where he got more than $90K, and he took in more than $50K from New York.  Oddly, Texas came in second with $81K, which must have mostly come from Austin.

Political analysts note that having a $1.4 million war chest at this stage is not exactly bad news, but the way Dodd amassed it has been unprecedented.  Connecticut isn’t exactly parsimonious with political contributions.  The rank in the top third of all states for per-capita contributions, so Dodd can’t plead a lack of potential resources.

It looks plain that Connecticut has rejected Dodd rather soundly, and now a bunch of people from other states want Dodd propped up in place.  At some point, Connecticut voters will have to decide whether they want two Senators from their own state, or allow other states to dictate their second position in the Senate.  In fact, it looks as though Nutmeg State voters have already made that decision … with their pocketbooks.