As potential candidates line up in the wake of sudden retirement announcements by Senators Chris Dodd and Bryon Dorgan, one challenger already has ties to the D.C. fundraising establishment.

Former Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., has held at least five fundraisers in Washington since the beginning of 2009 in an effort to win the Senate seat held by Dodd, who lagged badly in the polls in part due to a number of serious ethics charges. The five-term Connecticut Democrat had been dogged by ethical problems, including a sweetheart mortgage he’d received from Countrywide Financial, improperly disclosing the value of a second home in Ireland, his wife’s presence on the boards of several health care companies while Dodd was deeply involved in the reform legislation through his perch on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and his penchant for raising money from financial firms and their lobbyists while crafting legislation of interest to them.

The move by Dodd gives Democrats a chance to pit a better-positioned candidate against Simmons, who has raised $1.7 million,should he reaches the general election. Richard Blumenthal, the state attorney general, has announced he’ll run for the seat.

Connecticut Republican Linda McMahon, the World Wrestling Entertainment heiress, is running a self-funded campaign for the seat. While that’s allowed her to bypass the grind of fundraising, it hasn’t kept her free from problems with the Federal Election Commission: McMahon was faulted by the FEC for failing to list the beneficiaries of some half a million dollars in in-kind contributions she says she made.

In North Dakota, Republican challenger Duane Sand has $420,000 in the bank–one-tenth that of the outgoing incumbent Dorgan. The Party Time database does not contain any invitations for him yet. Gov. John Hoeven, considered the more viable candidate, raised $2 million in 2007 and 2008 for the governor’s race, but his state-level donations may not be transferred to a potential Senate campaign committee.

Even if he is spending his state campaign funds while he tests the waters, he needs to retain records to report those donations once he declares candidacy, according to Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics.

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