Vice President Joe Biden was in Connecticut last month and he came back Friday to give some more help to U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, who has an intense fight to keep his seat in 2010.
A $500-per-person private fund-raising lunch at the Connecticut Science Center in Hartford brought Biden back to us. However, Dodd wasn't there.
Despite that, the focus of the visit was on jobs. "The thing that Barack and I and Chris and Joe Lieberman and others are all about, and that is not creating jobs, but creating good paying jobs you can raise a middle class family on and that can't be exported," said Biden.
Dodd had to stay in Washington because of the possibility of important votes in the Senate, according to his office. His wife, Jackie Clegg-Dodd, filled in at the Connecticut events.
Lunch wasn't the only stop on the VP’s agenda, he’ll also stopped by East Hartford, which is getting almost $4 million in federal stimulus money to replace an aging fire station.
The visit just so happened to come days after a massive commercial warehouse fire destroyed the East Hartford Office Furniture Alliance warehouse.
"We're going to build a lot more fire halls around America. We're going to employ a lot more people around America. We're going to put a lot more cops to work around America," said Biden.
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The approval ratings for Dodd, chair of the Senate Banking Committee, have plunged after the nationwide financial meltdown and questions about mortgages he received in a VIP program. And the latest Cook Political Report lists Connecticut as leaning Republican in the 2010 Senate race.
His approval decline has contributed to some fierce competition from the likes of former WWE CEO Linda McMahon, former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons and others. Ralph Nader has also not ruled out a run.
This is at least trip number three from the White House. In October, President Barack ABM was here himself.
