Connecticut Local Politics

Fresh off raising a woefully inadequate amount of money, replacing their campaign team to move “into a new phase with a new team”, and then missing an FEC filing deadline, the Sullivan campaign is now fumbling press releases.
Here is what I received from the Courtney campaign at 1:00pm:
Representative Joe Courtney (D-CT) and House Armed Services […]

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This is congressional district convention week. The Republicans had theirs over the weekend, and Democrats had theirs last night. Now, at last, we know the candidates for each congressional district.
That means it’s time to break it down, and see where each race stands and is likely to go. I’ve put my own predictions (also […]

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“I just want to report that this morning I personally checked John McCain’s bearings. He has not lost any of them. They are all in really great shape.”
Joe Lieberman, responding to Barack Obama’s assertion that McCain had “lost his bearings.”
…Also, any giggling about this quote is entirely your own doing, I’m not encouraging that […]

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The Cook Political Report has changed its rating for Connecticut’s 2nd Congressional District from “Likely Democratic” to “Solid Democratic.” This is stunning, considering that this district saw the closest congressional race in the entire country in 2006.
“Solid Democratic” is the most favorable rating Cook gives for a seat leaning Democratic–meaning we’re not going to see […]

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The FEC is not happy with Sean Sullivan’s campaign.
According to this document the Sullivan campaign failed to file their pre-convention report, which should have covered the period from April 1-April 20th. Sullivan will be nominated at the 2nd District convention on May 10th. There is a possibility that they could wind up with some fines.
I […]

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The Courant reports that Governor Rell is considering a full or partial veto of the criminal justice bill based by the General Assembly last week due to the cost.
The bill, passed in response to home invasions in Cheshire and New Britain, toughens the penalties for repeat violent offenders. But what’s cause concern for Jodi Rell […]

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A couple of interesting tidbits on Friday’s speech by President Bush on Malaria and the Bush-Cappiello fundraiser:
CT News Junkie reports that the President’s speech in front of the Boys and Girls club will not be in front of any actual Boys and Girls, as the speech is in the morning and the club doesn’t […]

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I sat down earlier to write a post about Jim Himes’ Earth Day Op-Ed in the Connecticut Post and realized that spazeboy had beaten me to it, written exactly what I was thinking, and did it better than I could! So rather than blatantly rip him off, I invited him on… Here is spazeboy’s […]

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Here is today’s Election Issues Go List for the House (the session was scheduled to begin at 11:30):
House Bill No. 5662. AN ACT CONCERNING AN AGREEMENT AMONG THE STATES TO ELECT THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES BY NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE. This bill, which passed GAE last session, but did not receive a vote […]

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Apparently today is a tribute to the Stamford Advocate’s FOIA skills. From Brian Lockhart:
The U.S. attorney and state attorney general last week said they did not close their investigations into the crash of U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman’s 2006 campaign Web site until after the November election that year.
…
Thomas Carson, a spokesman for the U.S. […]

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From the New Canaan Advertiser:
Calling her 22-year career as State Senator for the 26th District “challenging but very rewarding,” Judith Freedman, 69, of Westport, announced she would not seek re-election this fall.
On the steps of Wilton Town Hall Monday morning, flanked by long-time supporters, fellow legislators and friends, Ms. Freedman endorsed the candidacy of […]

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In response to, what I am assuming were numerous, requests for a statement regarding the closing of the website “hack” story and the comments of AG Blumenthal three days after the email in question was sent given to the irrepressible CTBob, I received this statement from the AG’s office:
“Neither I nor any member of my […]

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Any of you wealthy GOPers just happen to have a spare $10,000 lying around after the 15th? Well, have I got a deal for you!
The Litchfield County Times is
reporting that the Commander-in-Chief himself, President George W. Bush, will be attending a April 25th fund raiser for State Senator David Cappiello at the Kent, CT home […]

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The day quarterly fundraising reports come out is like a mini-Christmas for political geeks. We get to pore over the numbers and make predictions, which is great fun, and sometimes we discover some weird and interesting stuff.
But what’s it all mean? What do these fundraising reports tell us about the state of the congressional races […]

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Sean Sullivan’s Q1 filing actually hurts to read:
Total Contributions: $43,142.00
Total Cycle Contributions: $230,450.10
Cash on Hand: $128,988.11
Q1 Burn: $41,347.98
That last number is not a typo. He spent 41k to raise 43k. How does one spend so much to raise so little? Consultants.
$2,854.85 to Media Consultants
$4,927.50 to Fundraising Consultants
$18,000.00 to Polling Consultants
$25,782.35 Total Consulting
Money well […]

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