Since his announcement on Wednesday, Lt. Governor Mike Fedele’s campaign for Governor has worked hard to secure the status “frontrunner”.
Working toward that end, the Fedele campaign unveiled today an impressive list of endorsements, including the GOP’s popular new Mayor of Stamford, Mike Pavia. From an e-mail to supporters:
“The Lt. Governor has a track record of creating jobs,” Mayor Mike Pavia of Stamford said. “Mike understands that the tax burden placed on our workers and employers is stifling growth and hurting our municipalities.”
In addition to Pavia, 22 local elected officials and business leaders signed on with Fedele.
The next few weeks are going to be exciting in the race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. Potential announcements from House GOP Leader Larry Cafero and Senate Leader John McKinney, as well as the roll out of the new Foley for Governor campaign will be interesting to watch.
Lt. Governor Fedele likely has the most to gain or lose in the coming weeks. If the Lt. Gov can sew up his supporters early, the race may be over before it begins. If the GOP rank and file starts searching out other candidates, it will be a decidedly negative sign for Fedele.
42 responses so far ↓
Heath….While I am A Democrat myself,I am not so sure endorsements will mean that much as to who ultimately wins the republican endorsement and primary,should their be one. Mr Foley has vast financial resources at his command and huge Washington DC Republican connections.I can imagine a situation in which Federle wins the endorsement but has little resources against Foley in a primary.If I was advising Foley I would tell him to avoid public financing and put out tv ads and radio ads defining himself right away and defining Federle as well. I would also tell Foley to typecast Federle as sort of a mainstream countryclub moderate while he( foley) should typecast himself as more of a conservative outsider type of candidate,able to offer solutions to the economic problems we face. Then I would also advise Foley to utilize his DC connections to weaken Federle here in ct and to at least aim for 40+% of delegates at your Republican convention.A showing like that for Foley would set him up to blow out Federele in a primary.
I would love to hear from some of you Republicans as too what you all think….
I would like to know who Federele is. Was that they guy who was married to Britney Spears?
lamont: That’s “they guy” who will be the next governor of Connecticut. Might want to learn how to spell his name … along with polishing your grammar skills.
I will be a delegate to the state convention from my local RTC and I am leaning toward Foley at this point.
It’s almost certain that Foley will be heavily scrutinized by the rank and file to see if he has the goods or not to take on one of the higher profile Democrats. Fedele himself looks in a precarious spot. If Jodi Rell herself was only a few points ahead of Susan Bysiewicz , the question will be asked if he really stands a chance. In the end Republicans will choose who they think can win, not who has paid their dues or has gotten a specific endorsement.
First off in order to get to his magic number of 22 he included a bunch of business leaders. A guy like Foley could probably role out several dozen prominent business leaders if he wanted to, after all he raised a million bucks from them in his senate race. What’s important now is grassroots support, business leaders don’t vote at the convention or turn out the vote in August or November. Every individual’s support in a campaign is valuable and its not a knock on those individuals but saying there are 22 endorsements is a stretch (they even included a rtc member to get to 22). The mayors support if solid but all and all I am not that impressed with a list like this after campaigning for this spot for 4 years.
Fedele is taking the public funding and Foley isn’t, enough said. Bruce lays out the scenario pretty well of how Fedele is actually the one who is probably going to get rolled.
How old is this race? A week?
Heath said: Lt. Governor Fedele likely has the most to gain or lose in the coming weeks. If the Lt. Gov can sew up his supporters early, the race may be over before it begins. If the GOP rank and file starts searching out other candidates, it will be a decidedly negative sign for Fedele.
If either candidate sews up his support too early, the Republicans stand the best chance of losing the race altogether. Look at the variety of candidates on the Democratic side. Having a diversity provides interest and energy.
Having a rich guy who jumped races without any solid reason to run for Governor or leaving the Senate race is a little suspicious. So is a guy who is rumored to have the right conservative ideals as a candidate in a state with a pathetic budget record and no economic plan but hasn’t said anything with his own mouth for 6 years in office. If their aim is to ’sew up the support’ by playing nice and saying they can beat the Democrat without presenting an iota idea to town committees on how they’ll work with a possible Democratic majority in the legislature to get a balanced budget and bring business to this state, then why bother?
As a delegate to the convention, I hope someone jumps in to make this race more appealing. One or two Democrats already look interesting to me. At least there’s still 5 or 6 months still to the convention.
Democrats would of had a good chance of finally winning the Governors race if it wasn’t for Obama and the Democrat Congress. Between Obama’s war and failing economy,Republicans will win regardless of who they run.
What does Obama have to do with Connecticut’s Gubernatorial race? Not a hell of a lot, of course. Really, this one answer to everything is really tiring.
Fedele cannot claim to be a fiscal conservative (re: Rell Admin) or a social conservative. There isn’t anything conservative about him so I’m not sure what your refering to Wolcott Boy.
As for Foley running for Governor I think he actually made the reasons pretty clear in his statement. He is a Hartford outsider with over 30 years of executive experience and he’s created thousands of jobs. So basically the same things that made him a credible candidate for Senate make him even more credible for Governor. That and hundreds of people urged him to switch races, I think that was a pretty clear sign too. If you’re going to join the press and knock him for not having a “Plan” on day one, after 4 years Fedele saying we need to create more jobs isnt exactly a plan either.
Energizing certain types of voters for one. But you already knew that.
There is no log cabin in Lieutenant Governor Mike Fedele’s biography, but it’s an interesting read anyway: Born in Italy, Fedele came to the United States as a tot, worked hard and made good. He was plucked by Jodi Rell from the State House of Representatives to run as her Lieutenant Governor following the dark days of the John Rowland administration. There are some perilous cliffs he must negotiate along the way.
The position of Lieutenant Governor is not the brightest spot in the political heavens. It is comparable on a state level to the Vice Presidential office, famously defined by John Nance Garner, Franklin Roosevelt’s Vice President, as being (a clean translation follows) “not worth a warm bucket of spit.”
Garner ran for the presidency and lost to Roosevelt but was chosen by the Democratic convention to share the ticket after he had released his pledged delegates to FDR.
Garner later opposed Roosevelt’s packing of the Supreme Court, stepping down as Vice President in January 1941 and bringing to a close a 46 year career. After his long run in public office, Garner settled in his home state of Texas. A good friend and political adviser to President Harry Truman, he devoted himself upon leaving office to his real estate business and fished a lot, which apparently was beneficial to his health: Garner died full of years at the ripe age of 98, establishing a record as the longest living Vice-President in U.S. history.
Fedele might have created more of a splash as Lieutenant Governor, but the political pool was immediately full with the addition of Lisa Moody as Gov. Rell’s chief aide.
As Lieutenant Governor, Fedele cannot help but find himself in a delicate position. It is generally supposed that the governor’s “lieutenant” ought to be loyal at all costs. Rell will finish out her term as a lame duck governor, which necessarily places Fedele squarely on the horns of a dilemma.
It is no secret in Republican quarters that Rell, in part because of the nature of her office, had not offered a stiff resistance to leading Democrats. Rell talked the talk when it was politically expedient for her to do so, but her behavior in office gives reason to doubt that she ever had been committed to any recognizable Republican program. She compromised on the matter of union pay and benefits, locking in expensive non-negotiable contracts well past the duration of her term. She blundered by refusing to sign a disastrously costly smoke and mirror budget, thinking that she could use her line item veto to expunge costly items, an unconstitutional option she was warned against by others of her advisors and the ever helpful lean and hungry Richard Blumenthal, the state’s highly partisan attorney general. Her chief of staff, Moody, was notorious for making deals with Democrats, a disposition that was apparently infectious.
Rell will ride off into the sunset at the end of the campaign season. Until that time, she will be hung like an albatross around Fedele’s neck by his opponents both within and outside his party. Lame duck governors do not usually inspire the kind of political loyalty most often connected to possible political favors. There will be no favors at the end of Rell’s run. And it will not be possible for Republicans gubernatorial hopefuls to run a principled and spirited campaign against Democratic contenders without muddying the shoes of the departing Republican governor.
The hero of every un-heroic politician, Yogi Berra, once advised, “When you reach a fork in the road, take it.”
Sometime during the campaign, Fedele will reach his fork in the road, and he will not be able to follow Berra’s advice.
At some point in the campaign, the Republican gubernatorial aspirant will be asked whether he will part ways with the Democratic legislative majority on the matter of spending and taxes. Or it will be pointed out that a Republican governor disposed to cut business taxes will be outnumbered by Democrats who during the last budget fandango proposed a crippling 30% increase in such taxes. These are forks in the campaign road. The fate of the state depends upon which route the next governor will take, and Republicans are not as fortunate as Democrats in such matters, because their solutions will be painful in the short run, beneficial in the long run.
For Republicans, one fork in the road points to the governor’s chair and a hard slog ahead. The other fork leads to success, a quick surrender, a fatal policy for the state and, for any future Republican governor who has not read the signs of the times, early retirement in the ruins with lots of fishing.
Energizing certain types of voters for one. But you already knew that.
At the end of the day Connecticut will choose the man or woman they best think can lead the state out of the current morass. That has next to nothing to do with the goings-on in Washington.
Heath,
I really have to disagree with you about the significance of Pavia endorsing him. They’re both Italian Republicans from North Stamford, and I believe Fedele campaigned for him (he made the trip down to swear him in). It would have been a lot more shocking (and a slap in the face) if Pavia HADN’T endorsed him.
Also, Don Pesci, Fedele wasn’t “plucked” from the House of Representatives. As I recall, he ran for the state senate against Andrew McDonald in 2002 and lost. Then he was out of the game until getting chosen as Lt. Gov. Rell couldn’t have “plucked” any Republican from the house of reps because it would have diminished their already small minority (and as you mentioned with your comparison to the Vice Presidency, would arguably have been a move to a less powerful position).
One problem I foresee for Fedele is Larry Cafero. They were both Lower Fairfield County reps for most of their careers and will be fighting for the same supporters going forward. Larry also has more of a record to go on, having vocally held the torch for the party for the last few years.
“Hung like an albatross.” Jodi has a 64% approval rating! Please. She did her best to curb the spending of the Dems in Hartford, and people know that. Blaming Fedele for low rates of job creation or high deficits is absurd, and most voters know it.
As for Foley, The State House is a better bet for him than the Senate, but I still say he has a problem with his Iraq War involvement, and his closeness to Bush. It won’t be as bad as it would be against Dodd, but Bruce, you can’t possibly make this look easy for him. Inter alia, Republicans want to pick candidates who can win, not merely the one who can spend the most money. As for casting Fedele as a “Country-Club Moderate”….what? Foley is a prototypical country club Republican (not that there’s anything wromng with that, as Seinfeld would say), and Fedele is a first-gereration immigrant! Please.
It seems Cafero is very close to jumping in, given his mailing of this past Friday, though I think he and Fedele have to give it some serious thought as to how much they will eat each others’ seed corn before he jumps. As for McKinney, I don’t know. He was rumored to have coveted his father’s old seat in Congress, and then did not run. It’s been weeks since Rell announced, and no word. It appears that for now he is probably staying where he is. It will be interesting, indeed, but Fedele is the favorite for now.
>>That has next to nothing to do with the goings-on in Washington.
If only it were true.
However what goes on in Washington directly impacts who winds up in Hartford.
The 1976 election illustrated that fact as did the `84 Reagan landslide where he lost by under 2500 votes in only one state and in CT we took seats not occupied by Republicans in some cases by 50 years.
In 2006 a candidate that had previously been the highest vote getter in town and not just once; failed to carry here in his race for state rep. Voters were quoted as remarking outside the polls to his own daughter;
“I really like your dad, but we have to send Bush a message……..”
Should the level of Obama’s “buyers remorse” continue or even grow, ( as I doubt it will wain between now and next November) the GOP should enjoy a resurgence in 2010.
It is still however ours to screw up, and there’s some new forces and unknowns as well such as the level of organization w/in the tea party movement.
The new level of organization found (and party fueled by bill 1098) within the so called “Roe Voters” might catch some on both sides of the aisle flat-footed as well.
Peter Wolfgang has transformed the FIC from a vocal crowd of Pro-Lifers into a bonafide political force that does more than protest. They’ve learned to supply manpower to some of those that agree with them only some of the time thus becoming useful even to those candidates that a few years ago would’ve avoided them.
This has broadened their political clout immeasurably, and made Wolfgang himself quite the rock star among a growing number of Republicans.
(I swore I wouldn’t like him one bit, in fact I had planned on hating his guts; but Peter simply wouldn’t allow it and I find myself respecting him quite a lot and will attest it’s impossible to not like the man.)
Prudent Republicans will treat both groups with consideration and courtesy in recognition of their respective numbers and intensity.
Considering the fact that the Democrats built a better mouse trap via their knitting together a massive and unlikely coalition of dissimilar groups, (and then mopped the floor with us from coast to coast) it should be no surprise that Republicans didn’t miss that reality and are more open to friendlier allied groups than some might have been in the past.
This will push the some in the GOP to the right to some degree, however even the most libertarian Republicans (we (note “we”) were largely known a generation or two ago as “Rockefeller Republicans”) are more appalled by wild spending than we are frightened of the social right.
I’ll have to respectfully disagree. In 2006 Jodi Rell won rather easily (as she should have) in a Democratic year. She ran a much better campaign than her opponent, and had a record she could stand on. In 2009, Virginia and New Jersey elected Republican Governors, chiefly due to their running more positive campaigns and the public was willing to give them their trust. They– McDonnnell in Va and Christie in NJ– looked competent to hold the job. In the end the old truism that all politics are local wins out, in my opinion at least.
Vincent….Im a Democrat but I agree with some of what you post…however…while Rell has high popularity numbers, these cannot be transposed unto Fedele or anyone, as they are her’s alone..I still continue to believe that certain republicans around Foley will paint Fedele as more moderate then him and with his DC contacts should be able to have “national republicans” weigh in for him.As to Cafero….he looks tired and frankly will have trouble as he will split alot of support with Fedele.Im not sure McKinney will jump in for the reasons you mentioned….there already are enough 4th district candidates.
Perhaps more than others year everything counts in the next two elections including Obama’s policy approval.
The State’s at a tipping point* of a Democratic super majority in both houses in the Governor’s Mansion with a huge expensive undertaking (Sustinet) on the back burner.
* gratuitious use of this year’s most annoying phrase.
GOP losses in 2010 through 2014 effectively ends the GOP as a meaningful political force in CT without some real changes in the party. Sustinet wll be policy, a 10% top income tax will be reality, and the mayors of Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport will have their 8.0% sales tax.
Unless our Gubernatorial candidates destroy one another, we should be able to hold the office.
So far we have two good men, and it looks like they may joined by one more.
Fedele’s life’s story is undeniably attractive and he’s a sincerely nice guy with a load of common sense to boot. Fedele has a commendable record of service outside of the political arena as well.
Like Dick Bozzuto 25 years ago, Fedele is the literal personification of what is good and right about America. One need not be a Republican to find him to be an attractive individual, which could translate to a successful candidacy.
Tom Foley has been a stand-up guy for the party and more so than many might realize.
He’s bright and has done the heavy lifting required to create jobs.
There’s loads of really rich guys running around in Greenwich and elsewhere; none of them have been more loyal to the party for such a long time.
Foley deserves nothing less than a chance to flesh out his campaign as he is worthy of the respect and every possible courtesy that can be afforded him, by every Republican in the state.
The GOP has lost elections when lower Fairfield County Republicans failed to get out the vote; Foley could win everything by virtue of his expected ability to reverse that deficiency.
Larry Cafero has occasionally seemed to be the sole voice of reason in Hartford and has established a decent budget hawk reputation.
That coupled with his outgoing and witty persona (the man can be wet-your-pants funny when he’s inclined) could well prove a winning combination should he too enter the field.
Cafero has a couple of extra aces in his hand as he would probably bring with him the talent and brains of some members of the Republican House Staff. A few seasoned brainiacs already accustomed to working well together would give Cafero an immediate advantage.
Most of us are aware that while it’s not rational, the taller candidate tends to win races. I’ve never seen any data regarding the funnier candidate’s chances but would tend to think that the wittier the candidate the better their chances.
Other names seem to pop up here and there, but with Caligiuri opting out of a gubernatorial run, no others seem likely to get far and aren’t really worth any attention unless they actually enter the contest.
I believe Sam Caligiuri would have handily taken both the nomination and the office and would have done so more easily than anyone, including it seems Caligiuri himself, would have imagined.
There’s a political dynamic in running a candidate with an Italian surname from Waterbury that’s impossible to replicate.
Fuzzy,
I think that notice will be misunderstood by everyone. But can we avoid pedantry? When I write that Rell plucked Fedele from the House, I meant to say no more than – He had been a state Rep – meaning he did not come from, say, the Senate or the editorial pages of the Hartford Courant (like Michele Jacklin) or the clouds. The notice itself a pretty straight account of the difficulties Fedele will face running for the office; that’s all it is.
ACR, as usual, provides a more comprehensive account of other Republicans in the race. It’s much too early for sound predictions.
Vincent,
“Hung like an albatross.” Jodi has a 64% approval rating! Please.
I think the attempt will be made by Fedele’s opponents to festoon him with Rell’s failures, don’t you? In fact, it has already been made. You may be right that the attempt will fail. We’ll see.
You’re not the brightest bulb in the box about CT politics are you… why don’t you stop commenting and just read for a few years.
If an ad hominem is the extent of your ability to reply then perhaps you ought to heed your own advice.
ACR – as a Republican I must say you are living in a fantasy world. You still realize you live in Connecticut?
The next poll will have the Secretary of State with a 20 point lead over all of her opponents.
Not one of the Republicans you mention, or potential Republicans, is known by 5% of the state. $3 million, if they qualify, isn’t going to do it either.
Foley may be the only hope if he gets a personality and taps into his wealth.
Campbell, your shot at Bill Buckley was unwarranted, as much as I agree with your argument in this case. As for me, I think my shot at Pesci was fair (just joking, Don). No, to recount my point — Gov. Patterson in NY is an “albatross” — Gov. Rell has a lot of fans. ‘Nuf said. As for Buckley’s point, i.e., that the NJ and VA elections had no relation to Obama’s plunge in the polls, please check out the independent vote swing in those states. In NJ, it was over 30%, and in VA, it was over 40%! Independents are where dissaffection is most likely to show up (Party voters will usually either show up in more or less intensity based upon their level of satisfaction with the party in power). So did dissatisfaction with DC help the challengers.? Yes squared.
As for Bruce, why would Foley want to paint Fedele as a “moderate?’ To get trounced by the Democrat in the general for being a dreaded conservative? Especially one who already has ties to Pres. Bush? Methinks that’s not the wisest strategy for a Republican in our state.
Vince,
I accept your rebuke with great modesty and good humor.
Vincent, Buckster can speak for himself.
His amateur hour retorts to my remarks are not a new occurrence.
Thanks for your input however, I’ll ignore it as soon as I’m finished with this post.
Wow, breaking out the Latin terms, and italicizing them, you really appear intelligent now.
Easy Campbell, I stood up for you, but if you continue to ignore me I may make a volte face and back Buckley.
>>The next poll will have the Secretary of State with a 20 point lead over all of her opponents.
Until she acts like herself for 20 or 30 seconds.
Once that makes it to Youtube she’ll be all done.
BTW – Remarks regarding how well hung the average Albatross is, seems out of place in this forum. Shouldn’t those sort of remarks be left elsewhere?
(I had no idea that Albatrosses were even Italian prior to today.)
Hah
Don,
My point was more that I don’t think the loss to McDonald should be discounted when considering Fedele’s prospects. I didn’t follow that race closely, but the bottom line is this: He wasn’t able to beat a Democrat in his own backyard, in one of the most Republican corners of the state…. so what does that say for his chances in a statewide race?
He seems to stretch his record a little bit, trying to became himself into this perfect storm of experience. For isntance, I haven’t seen any specific legislative or policy accomplishments that he’s touted. I also somehow question what owning his own company really brings to the table…. is Bob Kaufman qualified to be governor because he owns Bob’s Discount Furniture (no offense Bob, you actually seem like a great guy and a shrewd businessman). I have another friend who is a small business owner (75 employees give or take) and I wouldn’t trust him with a lemonade stand. Finally, by all accounts, being lieutenant governor gives you about as much governing experience as the Queen of England.
All that being said, as far as a candidate who really understands economic mechanics, I think Foley is going to establish himself as the stronger candidate. He has an education and background that demonstrate a grasp of the bigger picture as far as the economy goes.
As a last note, I didn’t see this quote widely reported, which was made by the the CBIA chair at the meeting Fedele announced at…
“There is no reason we should ever go back to higher numbers,” [Sam Bergami] said. “Why would you bring people into the organization if you don’t need them? I can justify spending millions in automation to eliminate people, because they’re so costly.”
My take from this, is that manufacturing jobs aren’t going to save this state. I don’t know what the numbers are, but it’s the loss of white collar jobs (ie wall streeters living in the FC) that’s really hurting the state right now, particularly the loss of tax revenue from the southwest corner. And again, Foley is stronger in that regard, and even a democrat like Dan Malloy has a better track record as far as pulling those types of jobs into the state (when he’s not being undercut by Jodi Rell, ie with the Starwood Hotels announcement).
Fuzzy,
Maybe. You raise some interesting speculative points, but it’s very early in the campaign, too early to throw Fedele out with the bathwater. One of the neat things about campaigns is that the kinds of questions you pose are addressed and answered in them. I really think that Fedele’s ties to Rell will present more of an obstacle than anything you mentioned. But we’ll see.
My take from your Bergami quote is that the price of labor in Connecticut is not very competitive. And you’re right about manufacturing, for the moment. With a new legislature and a new governor, the business template, one hopes, will change.
Cafero is God. The key issue: when Governor Rell wanted a major increase in spending 2.5 years ago, who supported her and who didn’t? I recall some irate Republicans from Greenwich …
Don,
I actually agree with you about Rell’s albatross status. In my view, she’s as popular as she is for one reason: She’s not John Rowland (I refer of course toJohn Rowland the political scoundrel, not John Rowland the wunderkind of the Republican party from his first two terms).
I think that as the campaign heats up, we are going to see more and more Republican dissatisfaction with the Rell administration. Her acquiescence on the budget was astonishing to me, and demonstrated a genuine lack of leadership and unwillingness to engage with difficult issues. The fact that she made some BS claim about thinking she could use a line item veto was bad enough. But the even bigger problem was that she didn’t have the fortitude or diplomatic skills to get the Democrats to come up with something more realistic.
Fedele says his tenure as Lt. Gov is important experience; but he didn’t step into the void our fearless governor left while she was spending time down in Brookfield and appearing on morning radio puff pieces. He says he admires Jodi Rell for her leadership; but she let an sham of a budget pass and resorted to phony political threats (to make it look like oking it was really just a mistake) instead of true leadership. In the coming months, she may be forced to take some unpopular decisions… it will be interesting to see if he carries her water or splits from message unity.
I still think the coverage of Foley has been unfair compared to Fedele. Fedele has offered empty platitudes about Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!, but hasn’t offered a concrete plan for how to create more (other than saying he would sit down with business leaders and ask what they needed, then supposedly give it to them?). Foley’s rollout was certainly lackluster, but we know as much about how Fedele would stimulate the state economy as Foley.
I’m intrigued by Cafero’s candidacy and his mailings. He seems like a more well rounded candidate than either Fedele or Foley (talks about education, crime etc. etc…. I know the economy is bad but this won’t be a one issue campaign). I said it earlier on this thread, but he and Fedele will be fighting over a lot of the same supporters (Italian Republicans from the Norwalk/Stamford area), so it will be interesting to see how that works for both of them. I could see one or the other conceding at some point and endorsing the other to the chagrin of Foley.
Finally, I’m not “throwing Fedele out with the bathwater”…. The reason I raise these questions is partly because I’m just irked by his assumption that somehow the lt. gov position makes him the presumptive nominee (see “I will be the Republican nominee”). Overall, I’m looking forward to a spirited campaign, with several excellent Republican candidates.
As a final followup to my post immediately above this, I have yet to see a tough question thrown at Fedele (endorsementgate aside, which in my opinion was a nonstory).
In light of his admiration for Jodi Rell and claimed involvement in executive decisions, this is the (two part) question I most want answered though:
(1) Did Jodi Rell consult you before she allowed the Democratic budget to become law, and (2) did you agree with her decision.
Waterbury Rep-Am spoke up this morning about Foley’s announcement: http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2009/12/08/opinion/453798.txt
DAMNED IF HE DOES … In the 2008 presidential campaign, Sen. John McCain laid out his platforms so early and repeated his talking points so often that as the election neared, “journalists” complained he had nothing new to say. Last week, Republican Tom Foley, whose entrepreneurial roots and relative conservatism make him a marked man among Fourth Estate statists, gave a standard speech announcing he would run for the 2010 Republican gubernatorial nomination. Afterward, “journalists” made no secret of their disdain, criticizing him for not also announcing, in excruciating detail, his proposals for fixing the state’s myriad crises and scandals that liberal career politicians took years to create while “journalists” cheered them on. When Mr. Foley finally gives “journalists” what they want, he should expect they will berate him for waiting so long as a prelude to deriding him later in the campaign for having nothing new to say.
The main problem for Foley’s announcement was that it was so boring. A cramped room full of reporters at the Hartford Hilton with a standard speech, completely read, and then answering a few questions before leaving to a more pressing appointment didn’t engender a lot of good will. The lack of a single supporter in the room was also somewhat strange.
Roger’s point is dead-on. The last thing you want to do is use all your ammo early. First of all, it gives your opponents plenty of time to analyze it and fire back with bigger guns. Second, by the time the election comes, your genius plans are a big yawn.
Then you have to re-cook the stew, and guess what? The media will ask, “Was the original plan bogus or a fraud or both?” It is ALWAYS better to hold off on at least 2/3 of your specific plans until the late summer of an election. As for a primary, it is best to wait until at least two months prior to the convention/caucus/primary before getting into the weeds.
It was actually the Waterbury Rep-Am’s point but I don’t think I could have said it better myself, so thanks for the credit.
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