His top five contributors were Bear Stearns, Citigroup, National Westminster Bank, Lehman Brothers, and Goldman Sachs.

[2] The Republican nominee, Jack Orchulli, ran as fiscal conservative and social moderate.

[citation needed] He broke ranks with his party on gay marriage and abortion.

He argued that Dodd hasn't done anything in his 30 years in Congress to fix such issues as traffic problems in Fairfield County.

[4] Orchulli launched a statewide TV ad campaign in September, as he spent over $1.1 million and pledged to spend "whatever it takes" if polls showed that he was gaining ground on Dodd.