At an event in his hometown of Stamford, he was asked about a potential candidacy for Governor, Lt. Governor Mike Fedele said that an announcement would happen soon:
… Fedele said it would be “in the very near term.”
Rumors have been circulating in the Capitol about when exactly the Lt. Governor would make such an announcement, with some predicting as soon as Monday.
The existence of an inchoate Mike Fedele for Governor website is further evidence that the Lt. Governor will be making a bid for the top job. Though still not populated with content, the campaign has apparently chosen to simply title the page “Fedele 2010 – Mike Fedele for Governor” for the moment.
The Republican gubernatorial field remains wide open. In addition to Fedele, Republican Leader Larry Cafero of Norwalk is exploring a bid.
30 responses so far ↓
Mike who?
Come on Ed, I know you are famous and all now, but you know that Fedele would be a good Governor.
Speaking of that, do I get my “Dump Dodd” membership card from you now?
Heath–
Famous and all? (link doesn’t work, btw).
As opposed to Lamont and Bysiewicz, fact is no one knows Fedele’s name. And unlike Rell, Mike is going to have to win an election to gain the governorship.
In terms of “Dump Dodd”, I’ll leave that to you wingers. If I have my way CT Dems are going to “Draft Big Dick”, and quickly put an end to the McMahon/Simmons/Tea Party/Schiff, — GOP circus.
Off the record, in a poll of Blumenthal vs. Simmons, do you think it’d be 65%-30%, 60%-35%, or just 55%-40%? Also, when Blumenthal gets in, will Simmons go down with the ship, or will he switich to the gubernatorial race?
Link fixed.
And as for the AG, I’m not the only one who suspects that his jaw is made of glass…
Sure Heath, you guys would love to face off against Blumenthal….
And in terms of Dick having a glass jaw, you’d have to first land a punch. In what ways would you go after our supremely popular attorney general? The GOP’s all-negative, all-the-time campaigning would go nowhere, and we both know that.
I’m going to have to agree with Anderson on this one. Other than his title I find Fidele a unattractive candidate in a potential primary and certainly in the general.
Moderated! Ugh!
I wonder, is Tom “Mumbles” Foley the most painful-to-listen-to candidate, ever? I wonder if he can get a refund on that $100,000 plus he paid for media training.
And if you suffer through the six or seven minutes, you’ll get hear him say he’d welcome Sarah Palin if she wanted to come to Connecticut on his behalf.
In a meeting in Wallingford this afternoon, Caligiuri was told by around 75% of those attending that they would support him for Governor but that he would lose at least half of those attending were he to announce for the 5th district.
Isn’t Wallingford in the CT-3?
What’s the correlation with this group with CT-5??
Large group, mix of tea-party & pro-life.
I wasn’t there, but received multiple reports that were all in line with each other.
With something like 27 out of 41 towns, plus a boatload of TC Chairs including one in of the four in Sams current senate district already either in Bernier’s column or heading there; ” the young unknown Justin Bernier” might be the surprise come-out-of-nowhere candidate we only see once in a a couple of decades.
Why waste time on an internal congressional run that could probably get bloodier than anyone wants to see?
The other candidacies in the 5th will die on the vine one by one.
Meanwhile – look at the map and figure what Caligiuri can count on bringing with him for Gov. and intact should he not ask those already committed to back down. (Principled people aren’t inclined to do so and most will be offended if asked to.)
Here’s what Caligiuri can more easily deliver than any other candidate mentioned.
Most of Route 8 from Naugatuck all the way to the Mass line.
Waterbury of course.
East to Meriden.
In that sideways “T” formation alone Sam should be able to roll up at least 40,000 more votes than any other Republican candidate.
With a decent GOTV (bank on it) more like 60K
That – plus the absolute support of the FIC which means volunteer workers by the literal busload.
Only Caligiuri can deliver a much higher than normal social conservative Democratic and GOP vote with enough punch to probably impact several other state assembly and senate seats.
For those of us who couldn’t make it will there be any post or pictures from the Ghengis night this past Wed?
Interesting analysis.
Just watched WFSB’s “Face The State” on-line on CTN.
Sam Caligiuri seems to be leaning stronger toward a run in CT-5. That show, I believe, tapes on Thursday.
He kind of brushed off the sense that Justin Bernier has the race locked up, given Bernier’s endorsements.
Sam said, “If the race was locked up, people would not be coming to me and asking me to run (CT-5), and I’ll leave it at that.”
They asked him about running for Governor, and your sign got a shoutout by Dennis House.
Sam still believes he can best fight for Connecticut in Washington.
So go figure??
ACR… your electoral “T” mirrors CT-5. Ignoring the Democratic nominees for a second, CT-5 makes a lot more sense to me than Governor. As for Justin Bernier having the nomination sewn up, that makes no sense to me. Sure, I know Sam and he’s represented my town for four years now. But I have to hear from any Cheshire Republicans telling me that they are excited about Justin.
Justin attended one CRTC meeting so far. I give him credit for that… and his presentation was good. But I really don’t see any reason that I – a likely CT-5 delegate – should or would favor Justin over Sam.
I understand that Justin got in six months ago… and Sam is likely making a switch… but I really don’t see any reason for me to support Justin over Sam.
Nothing against Justin. I liked him and wish him the best of luck. But I don’t accept your argument that Sam has a better shot at winning a statewide election.
One has to wonder what “in the near term” means coming from the Fedele camp. Does it mean the same as “The Governor will endorse me?” By the way, what crackerjack staffers are advising him that announcing during Thanksgiving week is a good idea? Assuming, of course, that would qualify as “near term.”
Regardless, I want Scooper to clear the deck of Dodd. Then have Murphy jump ship for Senate. He’d win in a landslide. And Dems should support him in a primary because he’d be in Washington for decades… barring a successful run at the Presidency.
Then we could have an exciting Caligiuri v. Esty matchup for CT-5. It’d be a fun race to watch with two very legitimate candidates… plus, the 103rd would be an open seat and Cheshire would have another state rep race on our hands!
And for anyone who wonders if Elizabeth could raise money… that shouldn’t be a question. Her husband was a member of President-elect Obama’s transition team. And she’s got quite the resume too… so she can raise money. Truckloads of it.
Actually Scoop… thinking of Rep. Esty… she should give you reason to keep pushing for our senior Senator’s retirement… along with a 2010 promotion for Murph.
Actually, Thanksgiving week may not be all that bad. If news is slow, he may get a few front page articles. I’m not sure it makes anymore sense to announce during heavier news and get pushed to page 3.
Scooper, Blumenthal will lose to any Republican for Governor as will Dodd.
O B A M A !
Polling In the 40’s heading to the 30’s.
What is the current status on public financing? Sam has a hard time raising serious money. His fundraising abilities are best fit for congressional or smaller races (maybe a smaller statewide office) not Senate or Governor. The only exception to Governor is public financing but isn’t that still held up in court?
Tim,
Does anyone know why Rep. Murphy’s house is for sale?
By the way, I’ve compiled a google map displaying the contact information for each gubernatorial and Senate candidate’s campaign headquarters.
I compiled most of the information from campaign websites, but some list only P.O. Boxes. Since its the cool thing to do now, I’ll crowdsource it here. If you know the physical address for any of the candidate campaigns that I haven’t included here, leave a comment and I’ll update the map.
The Fedele/Rell adminstration must account for the terrible budget they let become law. Will Fedele say he condenms Rell decision? Will he say he supported her non-action on the budget?
If he answers yes to the 1st question one has to ask why he didn’t speak up for the good of CT.
Assuming that Caligiuri won either nomination (Gov. or CT-5), what race is a Republican more likely to win against a Democrat? I would think that this would have to be a major consideration in anyone’s decision to run.
I still think that the powers that be in the Republican party prefer a Fedele ticket, and that’s why Caligiuri has been encouraged to run in CT-5. That brings me to another question though, which is how was he picked as Lt. Gov. in the first place? Did Rell hand pick-pick him, or did party elders “suggest” him? I think that says a lot about who the Fates prefer.
Here are the facts.
1. Dick is not going to get in the Senate race. Does anyone actually think that Dodd will drop out? More importantly, Dodd has the support of the 5 members of the U.S House – they are not going to dump Dodd.
2. Fedele or Cafero can’t win statewide. No name recognition and you can’t get name recognition on $3 million from public financing.
3. The R’s best shot would be McKinney or O’Conner.
4. The Sect of State will be the next Governor.
5. No big R landslide in 2010. George Bush was at 40/50 approval rating in 2002 and it didn’t help the Ds. The Rs have no leader and no message. In 2006 the Ds had a message – get out of Iraq – reason for taking over Congress.
6. Sam should stay in his state senate seat.
This is from an R who hopes I’m wrong.
RealNixon – check out CTBob’s site. He has two posts with pics and even video, thanks to TimWhite. A true bipartisan effort!
JC—thanks, i love numbered lists.
1. Agreed–doesn’t take a genius to realize that if Blumie has bided his time this long (ostensibly waiting for the perfect opportunity) he’s not going to muscle Dodd out and then have to race to get up to speed on the $$ and the organization.
2. Agreed, in part. Fedele has had four years to get himself out there and make himself the de facto successor and he’s failed at that. No one knows him and he has no organization–two huge knocks. He is personally a really good guy and I like him, but I’m shocked at the paucity of prior planning that seems to have gone into his run. Whether or not Rell clued him into her thinking, he should have been putting his team/message/strategy together since January 2007.
Cafero is a horse of a different color to me. While he certainly doesn’t have statewide name recognition, he does have something that scares Democrats…a message and the ability to communicate it. Since he became leader he has at least 1) put a face on the GOP in Hartford, and 2) put forth solutions instead of just shaking his head. If you matched his inherent talents and track record with a full-blown campaign mechanism, I think he could quickly become formidable.
3) The love affair with O’Connor puzzles me. If people can’t tell you who their congressman is, why do they automatically know who their U.S. Attorney is (or was)? He didn’t have that many high-profile cases (other than his pal Rowland), and those he did were kicked to his deputies (Danaher and Dannehy?). Plus, his entrance to the race would give the Dems carte blanche to run a “he’s W’s guy” campaign just when the party is crawlingout from underneath that anvil.
McKinney certainly has a base in Fairfield County, but very little everywhere else. He decided to keep his powder dry in the 4th CD this time which begs the question why he would opt for a race requiring more of a commitment with less chance of success? He’s still a young man with a bright future and jumpnig into a race like this, at this late date, would be almost foolish.
4. From your lips, to God’s ears….the GOP would like nothing better than to have Susan in the #1 slot on the ballot.
5. We will never have a GOP landslide here again (no party lever/bubble, etc.). But what we can have is at least a relatively even playing-field for the first time in a long time. And once the party does settle on a candidate for both Gov and Sen., then I think you will start to see a message. And if Cafero and McKinney do a good job recruiting aggressive and intelligent candidates, I think we could see some positive movement.
6. I think that Sam should have either 1) decided early on to run for the 5th or 2) stayed in the 16th. However, if he does jump in and if he does get up to speed quickly, his ability to neutralize Murphy’s home district while peeling votes in Waterbury and Danbury could make this very interesting. I don’t like to see Bernier get tossed under the bus, but at his age he might be better off running for state house or senate and build his political bona fides.
JC,
Do you not agree that Barack Obama is Jimmy Carter on steroids and his approval ratings are tanking like a rock? If you agree with that, don’t you think people will vote against the party in power, Democrats?
I think it will be a good Republican year across the country but nothing like 1994. The R’s will gain a few seats in the Senate and 20 at the most in the House.
In Connecticut, I just don’t see it. Dodd might lose but I think everything else will stay relatively the same, with the Sect of State elected Governor. The State Senate will be forutnate to stay at 12 – the have 2 open Republican seats to hold now. I don’t think they can beat an incumbent Democrat. The House will gain a few seats but a lot of that has to do with the ability to find good candidates.
I believe the average American voter is an uniformed dope. They couldn’t even tell you who their state senator and rep is or even the Vice-President for that matter – so they end up voting Democrat.
Puf and Firm – I hope I am wrong.
and his approval ratings are tanking like a rock?
…except they’re not. Obama’s personal popularity is still quite high, relative to recent first year presidents. His numbers have been about the same since mid August. What has gone down are confidence in his handling of policy issues, such as health care and handling of the economy.
http://www.pollster.com/polls/us/fav-obama.php
The comparison most apt among presidents is Ronald Reagan, who also came into office with an economic mess to deal with. Granted, Obama is not Reagan, and their approaches are diametrically opposed, but it’s striking how their approval rates (high personal appeal, lowering confidence through the first year on handling of the economy) have mirrored one another.
Well I should think that the GOP will field someone a tad better than Mondale in 2014….but I guess you never know.
Fedele’s officially in. This could get interesting if Rell does resign early.
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