COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd capped a visit to this early presidential primary state with a stop at state Democratic Party headquarters where he helped raise $20,000 for federal campaigns.

The senior Connecticut senator also attended a ceremony Friday night where the party renamed its building for Don Fowler, who along with Dodd, ran the Democratic National Committee for two years beginning in 1995.

Dodd spent time in Charleston, Orangeburg and Columbia on Thursday and Friday – areas with the highest concentrations of Democrat voters in the state. He’s trying to make connections in case he runs for president in 2008, a decision he says he won’t make until January.

But he did say anyone looking to run for president in two years needs to get to work soon. “I think I’ve got as fair a chance at this as anybody,” Dodd said.

The national problems of the Republican Party are eating away at GOP support even in South Carolina, which hasn’t gone Democrat in a presidential race since Jimmy Carter won the White House.

“People want a change in the country. They think we can do better both at home and abroad,” Dodd said. “They want people to come together to get a job done.”

Dodd also has been keeping an eye on South Carolina’s gubernatorial race and is helping local parties raise money for state Sen. Tommy Moore as he tries to unseat Republican Gov. Mark Sanford. He even watched part of the first debate between the two earlier this week.

Moore is “making this quite a race” and having a Democrat in the Governor’s Mansion would help the party in 2008, Dodd said.

“It’s a big deal because it will give a stature. … There will be a lot more buzz about what’s happening in the state,” Dodd said. “If you have a governor, it gets you a little more zip than otherwise would be the case.”