Option A: The Return of Ned Lamont
“Look, I’m somebody who’s devoted his life to creating jobs, and I think I bring that perspective, an entrepreneur’s perspective, to the political discourse,” he said. “I’m going to challenge the political class. We’ve got to reform the way we do business in the state of Connecticut. And we’ve got to get an honest budget.”
The questions surrounding Mr. Lamont’s decision to form a gubernatorial exploratory committee are starting to pile up:
How will the activists that propelled him to victory in the 2006 Democratic primary feel about a bid for Governor?
If he doesn’t take public financing, will that strangle a key Democratic initiative that remains very much in its infancy?
Will Governor Rell run for re-election against Mr. Lamont?
Option B: Nervous Democratic Incumbents
Politico says Mr. Dodd and Mr. Himes should be skittish about 2010:
Dodd is in the middle of the thorniest battles in Congress — health care reform and a crackdown on Wall Street — and if the 2010 election turns on Obama’s domestic agenda, Dodd’s fate will be tied to it.
The article goes on to highlight the plight of NJ Governor Jon Corzine, a liberal northeasterner dogged by ethics issues and unpopularity, who is now figuring out how to get his stuff out of the Governor’s mansion in Trenton.
Option C: $50 Million
According to CQ Politics, Sen. John Cornyn on Linda McMahon:
“She said she was prepared to spend $50 million; that caught my attention,” Cornyn recalled of their most recent meeting, after which he became neutral in that primary.
If you laid $50 million worth of twenty dollar bills end-to-end, they would stretch 242 miles - almost exactly the same distance from Greenwich to Washington, D.C.
Go figure.
Option D: The State’s Dysfunctional Budget
Everyone paying attention knew that the state budget passed in September made about as much sense as Kanye West at a Taylor Swift concert.
But now that we’ve been reprimanded by Moody’s and common sense, the Governor is busy trying to right the ship with $34 million in budget cuts according to CTNewsJunkie and another deficit mitigation plan on the way.
But of course no story about the Governor these days is complete without a dose of palace intrigue, and so here too it must be:
The state Auditors of Public Accounts office was cut $603,355. The cut amounts to about 4.6 percent of the agency’s overall budget, but the Auditors of Public Accounts are tasked with investigating Rell’s relationship with University of Connecticut Professor Ken Dautrich…“There are no disproportionate cuts,” Chris Cooper, Rell’s spokesman, said. “If there was a conspiracy, then the Attorney General’s office would have been cut too.”
The article went on to reveal that there were cuts made to the offices of both the Attorney General and the Governor.
14 responses so far ↓
I’d like the Democrats to answer four questions:
What is the lowest bond rating you will accept?
What is the highest sales tax you would propose?
What is the highest income tax you would propose?
How soon can your achieve all three objectives if given a majority?
Does anyone here see Linda McMahon as the Republican nominee? I just don’t see that route, despite her millions.
I think that ship has sailed, comrade.
How will the activists that propelled him to victory in the 2006 Democratic primary feel about a bid for Governor?
As far as I can tell, most of us are very enthusiastic about such a bid.
If he doesn’t take public financing, will that strangle a key Democratic initiative that remains very much in its infancy?
No reason why it should.
Will Governor Rell run for re-election against Mr. Lamont?
I don’t think that Rell cares much who she is running against, and you’re right, it would be Lamont.
I don’t see Linda winning a primary of Republican voters. I consider myself to be pretty conservative, and there’s no way I’d vote for Linda McMahon. I’d vote for Rob Simmons in the primary, particularly if I thought that Sam wouldn’t have as good of a chance against Dodd. I think Simmons would be a significant improvement over Dodd.
In NY-23, Dede Scozzafava didn’t really have any Republican principles: there was no guarantee she was going to vote for pretty much any Republican policy, and there was even talk that she’d switch parties. With Simmons, we know that he won’t switch parties, we know that he’ll be a party voter more often than not.
I haven’t read a lot about the candidates, I haven’t made my decision yet about whom I am going to support, except not Linda McMahon. I think Peter Schiff is probably more of a fringe candidate, but I think that he could make the debates interesting. I just don’t think he’d have any real shot at winning the election. So I probably won’t vote for him either…
If he doesn’t take public financing…
I don’t see why he would. He’d have an advantage over the other candidates and a lot more flexibility if he didn’t. Similarly Obama didn’t take public financing while McCain did, and gained a huge advantage as a result. The coyness with which politicians of either stripe approach public financing is rather telling. If you have the dollars you use them.
I thought this was cute, Lamont from an interview with Christine Stuart yesterday.
http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/election_2010/lamont_still_undecided_on_publ.php
>>I don’t see why he would. He’d have an advantage over the other candidates and a lot more flexibility if he didn’t
The CT cash-giveaway fiasco (public financing) is different than the presidential; the more of his own cash he dumps in, the more cash the participating candidates get.
The whole program was designed to keep rich people from doing exactly what you suggest.
>>As far as I can tell, most of us are very enthusiastic about such a bid.
Lamont was never-the-less able to get more Republicans and Independents to vote for Joe than ever before.
It appears that Lamont supporters fail to realize the level of negative polarization he causes far offsets his attraction to his supporters.
Personally, I would much rather see Lamont as the Democratic nominee than anyone else that might be on the horizon from that side of the aisle; save for maybe Curry, Morrison (now *there* was candidate!) or one of our all time favorites – DeStefano!!
You could always run a woman against Jodi.
That would create quite a contrast regardless of whether it was the current SoS or better yet (for us) Rosa!
Another GOP candidate has filed with the FEC in CT-5.
Bill Evans of Wolcott
Announcing candidacy tomorrow afternoon.
http://www.billevansforcongress.com
The count is now up to five Republican candidates (Justin Bernier, Mark Greenberg, Kie Westby and Dan Carter are the others)
Out of control, accosts party regulars, insults 76 year old former TC chair current treasurer.
Hardly a Dale Carnegie grad to say the least.
This one will be even less relevant than the others.
Considering this week; expect another half-dozen to appear and fizzle out like as many pop-bottle rockets.
They’ll arrive on the field with much fanfare and fade to black quickly including the self-funding animal rights activist (I just bet he’s going to line up perfectly with party on the 2nd – not).
Bernier had 3 functions this week alone including one I attended this evening.
Think of it this way.
You’re sitting on the side of the road in a Plymouth Fury when someone flys by in a Porsche 911 at 130 mph and you can hear the 911 down shift and accelerate.
Your Plymouth has a top speed of 127 mph.
How could you catch up and pass the 911?
You can’t.
Forget it – anyone getting in this late doesn’t have a prayer of taking Murphy and his machine. There doesn’t seem to be a problem finding candidates with little contact with reality however.
Weicker Liker – Good catch by the way!
One wonders though if that “CT cash-giveaway fiasco” will still be around by 2010….
ACR….
Came across Evans’ FEC filing last night.
Just thought it would be good info to share with the others.
>>One wonders though if that “CT cash-giveaway fiasco” will still be around by 2010….
Difficult to kill, ruling or not, when there are already candidates committed to it for the cycle.
2010 should be the last year for it, and I hope it is.
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