U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd showed today that he still can raise money. Results from his second quarter filing show the 30-year-incumbent pulled in $1.2 million, and this time, there many Connecticut residents among them.

But if you add up the amount raised by former Congressman Rob Simmons, former Ambassador Thomas Foley and State Sen. Sam Caligiuri, R-Waterbury, Sen. Dodd is still down about $100,000 from the collective Republican fundraising effort.

Dodd also has the advantage of overseeing the health care asset seizure legislation now working its way through committee. Nothing like playing with one seventh of our nation’s economy to get a donor’s attention.

As of this post, we have not closely examined the donations, who gave them and for how much. But it the coming days and weeks that will be revealed.

But without the built-in capacity to raise significant dollars that are enjoyed by a sitting U.S. Senator, all three Republican candidates have demonstrated there is strong, grass-roots support from every corner to elect a new – Republican U.S. Senator in 2010.