Eye on 2010

Foley and McMahon are two of five Republicans looking to challenge Dodd, a Democrat who is in a tough spot for his re-election according to public polls.

Former Rep. Rob Simmons, state Sen. Sam Caligiuri and businessman Peter Schiff also are running, although none of them have been on the air yet.

Foley and McMahon have personally funded their campaigns to varying degrees, and are attempting to set themselves apart from the pack early with their battling television scripts.

"Thanks to Washington, every child in America starts off over 38,000 dollars in debt," Foley says in the new ad. "I'm Tom Foley. While Washington has gone on a spending spree, they've left our children to pay the bill. It's just irresponsible to mortgage their future with our debt."

McMahon's one-day ad, which aired in the New York City media market, said Dodd "predicted that passing the stimulus package would create or save 41,000 jobs in Connecticut. Instead? We¹ve lost 24,000."

In her earlier round of advertising, McMahon, a political newcomer, started introducing herself to voters.

It's an expensive effort that she can afford to make: McMahon is by far the biggest self-funder of the GOP bunch.

According to reports from the Federal Election Commission, she gave $3.5 million to her campaign in the first couple weeks of her bid.

Foley gave his campaign $500,000 of the $780,000 he raised last quarter and the almost $1.2 million that he has in the bank.

Simmons, who many still consider the frontrunner, raised $986,000 over the same period, and started October with just over $1 million in the bank.

CQ Politics rates the general election race a Tossup.

To see how all the 2010 Senate races are shaping up, check out CQ Politics' election map.