Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has cut a TV ad for Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who is aggressively campaigning to win re-election in his most challenging race to date.

Kennedy has put Dodd in charge of ushering a health care reform bill through the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee while he battles cancer away from the Senate.

“Quality health care as a fundamental right for all Americans has been the cause of my life, and Chris Dodd has been my closest ally in this fight,— Kennedy says straight to camera in the ad. “Today more than ever, we have a real opportunity to bring health care reform to Connecticut and all across America, and I believe that with Chris Dodd’s leadership, our families will finally have accessible, affordable health care.—

The spot started to run over the weekend during Sunday morning talk shows and will continue to run statewide on network and cable stations.

And in yet another move that will please liberal voters in the Nutmeg State, Dodd wrote a guest column in the Meriden Record-Journal this weekend announcing that he has changed his position on gay marriage.

Dodd wrote that he told members of the state’s gay and lesbian community last week that he agrees with the state Supreme Court’s ruling that there should be no distinction between “civil unions— and “full marriage rights.—