Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. traveled to Hartford on Friday to raise money for embattled Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), calling him his “best friend” and emphatically praising his service in the Senate.

Dodd, however, stayed in Washington, D.C. to work on the health care reform bill instead of joining the vice president in Connecticut as planned. The Senator’s wife, Jackie Clegg Dodd, attended the event instead.

The crowd of about 175 people included many of the Nutmeg State’s Democratic Party power brokers, who paid $500 each to hear Biden.