Faced with his toughest re-election challenge to date, Sen. Chris Dodd (D) is up on the airwaves with his first television advertisement — more than 16 months before the election.

The spot opens with President Barack Obama giving a “special shout-out— to Dodd, whom the president also called a “relentless fighter— on the recent credit card bill, which he signed into law.

“Because of Chris Dodd, now credit card companies can’t raise your rates whenever they feel like it, can’t rip you off with hidden fees and can’t give your child a credit card without your permission,— an announcer in the ad says.

Dodd campaign official Jay Howser said the campaign spent more than $100,000 on the spot that will run for one week in the state.

The Senator has come under fire in the past two years for a special deal he received on his mortgage, his quixotic bid for president and his management of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee during a national financial crisis.

Public polls have shown Dodd trailing his likely Republican opponent, former Rep. Rob Simmons. The most recent Quinnipiac University survey showed Simmons ahead of Dodd, 45 percent to 39 percent, among a sample of Nutmeg State voters.