With President Obama out of the country, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. stepped out on the campaign trail over the past two days with stops in Nevada and Arizona to raise funds and rally support for local Democrats.

And the Connecticut Democratic party announced Monday that he will attend a luncheon in support of embattled Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn. Dec. 11, signaling a new level of intensity in the vice president's party-building efforts that have already seen him visit, by his count, 54 House districts this year.

Biden's made appearances Sunday and Monday with vulnerable Reps. Dina Titus, D-Nev., Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz.., and Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., all of whom face competitive races in states that have been particularly hard hit by the housing crisis and economic recession.

According to a report by the Pew Center on the States released last week, Arizona ranked second and Nevada fifth among states in the most "fiscal peril" in 2009. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., won Kirkpatrick's 1st District and Mitchell's 5th District in the 2008 presidential race, while Obama snared Titus' 3rd District.

Yet another Connecticut Republican has launched a television advertisement for a primary that's 10 months away -- a move that underscores how competitive and expensive the contest to oust Sen. Christopher J. Dodd has become.

Former Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley hit the airwaves Tuesday with his second ad.

He follows fellow Republican and former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon, who went up on the airwaves in September and again last week for just one day, while President Obama was in Connecticut to raise money for Dodd.

Former Rep. Christopher Shays has not endorsed a candidate in the crowded Republican primary for the Connecticut seat he lost to Democrat Jim Himes in 2008. But Shays' wife has a dog in the 4th District fight.

Elizabeth Shays donated $500 to former state Sen. Rob Russo on Sept. 30, the last day of the third-quarter reporting period, according to federal campaign finance information.

While the former congressman, a GOP moderate who served from 1987 until this January, isn't taking sides yet himself, there is a clear connection to Russo. A former aide to Shays, Russo also currently is his lawyer.

Linda McMahon's background as a pro wrestling impresario has prompted any number of jokes since last week when she launched her bid for the Republican Senate nomination in Connecticut. But it took mere days -- and a big-money campaign ad run -- to show that the first-time Republican candidate is dead serious about trying to unseat Democratic incumbent Christopher J. Dodd.

McMahon dipped into the wealth she has amassed as CEO of publicly-traded World Wrestling Entertainment to finance a seven-figure television ad buy. Her campaign has two ads running on network television in the New York City media market -- the nation's biggest and most expensive -- and across Connecticut for the next seven days.

McMahon's campaign also launched an introductory radio spot yesterday to air statewide for one week; took out full-page ads in local newspapers; sent out mailers; and has Web ads up targeting Connecticut voters.

The conservative Family Research Council's political action committee plans to target 16 congressional races in 2010. The group's president, Tony Perkins, said the PAC has a goal of raising $1 million to boost grassroots activity in targeted races.

The group wants to spend money to help favored candidates take over the seats now represented by:

Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat who is running for a full term in Colorado after his appointment this year;

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, a Democrat who is running for re-election in Connecticut;

New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, a Republican who is retiring;

Missouri Sen. Christopher S. Bond, a Republican who is retiring;

Rep. John Boccieri, a Democrat who represents Ohio's 16th District;

Once he crossed the $800,000 fund raising mark there wasn't much doubt that financier Peter Schiff was serious about running for the Senate in 2010.

On Thursday, he made it official.

Add the former adviser to the Ron Paul presidential campaign to the list of Republicans eager to take on Democratic Sen. Christopher J. Dodd in 2010.

Schiff, head of Euro Pacific Capital, used an appearance on the MSNBC program "Morning Joe" to declare the exploratory phase of the campaign over. He said the economy is spurring him to run: "I can't sit idly by and just watch a train wreck in motion."

Schiff also sent an e-mail to supporters Thursday morning crediting their support with making his campaign possible. "Based on the support that I have received thus far, I fully expect to be facing down Chris Dodd in the general election just 14 months from now," he wrote.

Linda McMahon, the chief executive officer of World Wrestling Entertainment, announced Wednesday that she has joined the contest for the 2010 Republican Senate nomination in Connecticut.

Her entry adds a good deal of personal wealth -- and perhaps a bit of her sports marketing firm's trademark theatrical flair -- to the already crowded field of Republicans seeking to challenge Democratic Sen. Christopher J. Dodd. Suffering from a job approval slump tied to questions about his oversight of the financial industry as chairman of the Banking Committee, Dodd is more vulnerable than at any previous point in his Senate career.

McMahon, who stepped down from her CEO post to run, released a statement Wednesday touting her business experience as a key qualification for the seat. "I have spent the past 30 years growing what began as a 13-employee small business into a publicly traded, global entertainment company," she said. "I understand what it takes to balance a budget, create jobs and grow the economy."

She has run the company with her husband, Vince McMahon, a showman who long has been the public face of pro wrestling and its flamboyant mixture of sports and theater.

A former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee said Thursday that he is seeing a "momentum shift" away from Democrats ahead of the November 2010 elections but cautioned against making predictions of significant Republican gains more than a year before the balloting.

Former Virginia Rep. Thomas M. Davis III, who served in the House from 1995 through 2008 and now is president of the centrist Republican Main Street Partnership, told reporters that the first midterm election in a new presidential administration has almost always yielded seat gains in Congress to the party not controlling the White House.

Though Republicans still have poor approval ratings, they could make gains in a low-turnout 2010 election from voters who are uneasy with one-party rule in Washington. Democrats have advantages of 256-178 in the House and 59-40 in the Senate.

Former Connecticut Rep. Rob Simmons isn't wasting any time in trying to consolidate local party support for his Senate bid in what could be a crowded primary.

The Simmons campaign announced on Monday it had secured the endorsement of Deputy House Republican Leader Bill Hamzy, a former Connecticut Republican Party chairman, adding to a string of GOP endorsements this summer that now includes state House Republican Leader Larry Cafero, state Sen. Tony Guglielmo and 20 members of the Republican State Central Committee.

The party will endorse a candidate to take on Democratic Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, who is battling the lowest approval ratings of his career, at its convention, which is slated for May 21-22, 2010. Other candidates can still run in the primary, but the party nod could provide important momentum.

Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd underwent successful surgery in New York Tuesday to treat his early-stage prostate cancer, his campaign announced.

In an e-mail to supporters, Dodd's wife, Jackie Clegg Dodd wrote, "I am very happy and relieved to report that the surgery went very well and the doctors predict a full recovery."

Dodd is expected to spend a couple weeks recovering at his home in Connecticut before returning to Washington, D.C., in September.

Dodd's cancer was discovered as a part of a routine physical in June; he disclosed his diagnosis publicly on July 31. Wrote Clegg Dodd, "Chris and I want to encourage all of you to make sure that you and your loved ones get annual physicals. His cancer was caught early during a regular checkup."