A Quinnipiac University poll released today shows former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons defeating Senator Chris Dodd in a hypothetical match-up for the 2010 senate race in Connecticut.  Simmons would make a fine U.S. senator; he was an outstanding member of the House, losing his re-election bid in 2006 by just 82 votes.  His defeat was mainly a product of the anti-Republican tide that swept the 2006 election cycle.  Simmons is a fighter.  A formidable campaigner, in 2000 he unseated a twenty-year incumbent in a congressional district where two-thirds of the voters are registered Democrats. 

Recently, an anonymous aide to Dodd downplayed the prospects of a Simmons candidacy:  “”His [Dodd's] potential opponent Rob Simmons couldn’t even hold Connecticut’s Second District — how is he going to win statewide?”  Clearly, the aide knows next…