Connecticut Local Politics

I had to check this morning if I was reading the press release of the new Quinnipiac Poll or a Marvel Comic book. (Where’s Connecticut Bob with his Mad Photoshop Skilz when I need him?) Check out this breathy opening paragraph:
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has 35 to 47-point leads over three Republican candidates [...]

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In 1636, Thomas Hooker and a small band of followers – likely fed up with the bad drivers – made the journey from Boston to the banks of the Connecticut River, where they founded Hartford.
Nearly four centuries later, the land that our ancestors fled is up to its elbows in a special election race for [...]

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PPP should probably get the “Most Serendipitously Timely Poll of the Year” Award for this one (PDF). And it’s news that’s bound to have Rob Simmons, Linda McMahon and Peter Schiff reaching for the Tums.
Chris Dodd’s retirement has shifted one of the Democrats’ most vulnerable seats to one of their safest…Attorney General RichardBlumenthal with [...]

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Just had a breaking news announcement from the Washington Post moments ago, that Senator Chris Dodd has scheduled a press conference for later today (Wednesday) at which he is expected to announce that he will not run for re-election in November.
According to the Post’s Chris Cillizza:
State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is widely expected [...]

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Connecticut just won a “spirited” vote on Public Policy Polling for which state should be polled next. PPP goes into the field tonight.
They’re asking some interesting questions:
-We’ll test Chris Dodd against the trio of Republican candidates but we’ll also look at how Richard Blumenthal or Chris Murphy might do as a Democratic alternative.
-We’ll look [...]

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The Washington Post reports that one of the myriad sugarplums of pork tucked into the fetid crap sandwich that is the Senate version of Health Care “Reform” is $100 million dollars for a university hospital, and that it has been set aside for none other than Chris Dodd, whom the paper notes “faces a difficult [...]

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An internal poll for the Dodd campaign conducted December 15-17 by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research among 601 likely Connecticut voters found Dodd and McMahon locked in a dead heat with 46 percent of the vote apiece, and the Senator trailing Rob
Simmons by a margin of 46 to 51 percent.
This poll tried to feel out [...]

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Vice President Joe Biden will be in Hartford today for a double-dip of fun. His first stop will be at the shiny new Connecticut Science Center, but he probably won’t get to walk through the River of Life exhibit.
Instead, he’ll be raising funds for the re-election campaign of embattled U.S. Senator Chris Dodd.  In conjunction [...]

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The Cook Political Report, led by the intrepid prognosticator Charlie Cook, has changed their rating on Sen. Chris Dodd’s re-election effort from “Toss Up” to “Lean Republican”:
As a general policy, the Cook Political Report does not rate unindicted incumbents worse than “Toss Up,” at least until Labor Day of the election year since some endangered [...]

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A new poll released last night by Rasmussen Reports shows that the contest for the U.S. Senate seat remains basically where it was last time a poll was conducted.
Former U.S. Representative Rob Simmons polled at 48% against Dodd’s 35%.  Linda McMahon also polled well, leading Dodd by a 44%-38% margin.  Even Peter Schiff polled slightly [...]

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This evening the Senate passed the motion for debate on the healthcare bill.
Here’s what Senator Dodd, who took over work on the HELP committee for his ailing friend and colleague, the late Senator Edward Kennedy, had to say:
if you’ve watched the debate here in the Senate over the past few days, you’ve probably [...]

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Aftet last week’s Quinnipiac Poll revealed continued weakness in Sen. Chris Dodd’s public standing, some commentators are reviving a drumbeat that began earlier in the year by suggesting that Mr. Dodd should strike his colors and depart the field of political battle before things get worse. 
The Hartford Courant picked up this meme in an editorial today:
The senator has not [...]

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Vice President Joe Biden, the man that some have called the fundraiser-in-chief, will be in Hartford on December 11th for an event to benefit Sen. Chris Dodd’s re-election campaign.
Per CTNewsJunkie:
“We expect this event to be an entertaining one, with a lot of good-natured ribbing, as well as some serious talk about the work Chris is [...]

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Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate turned perennial Presidential candidate, is reportedly considering another comeback, this time in Connecticut’s U.S. Senate race:
“You can’t believe the number of people of asking me [to run]… Right now I’d say I’m agnostic,” Nader told me earlier today, asked about rumors he’d run an independent, siphoning off liberal votes Dodd [...]

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Jim Amann Still Gaining Steam
Per CT News Junkie, Former Speaker Jim Amann picked up another legislator endorsement yesterday from State Rep. Ryan Barry of Manchester.  The money quote:
“This is the kind of guy who grabs you by the lapels in the middle of a budget crisis and says, ‘Just be thankful we’re here to help [...]

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Quinnipiac has a new pollout this morning in the Senate race and the results are decidedly negative for Sen. Chris Dodd.
In addition t0 Dodd’s job approval rating of 40%-54%, every Republican challenger runs well against him in a head-to-head matchup.  Former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons led Dodd by 11%, former Ambassador Tom Foley led by [...]

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U.S. Senator Chris Dodd, commenting on GOP Sen. candidate Linda McMahon’s purported willingness to spend $30 Million to unseat him:
“I haven’t spent that much in five races,” Dodd said in a telephone conference call with radio and newspaper reporters from Washington, D.C. “I don’t think there’s enough money to buy a Senate seat – even [...]

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Senator Chris Dodd announced that he raised $900k for his Senate re-election campaign, according to The Hill:
Simmons announced earlier this week that he had raised $970,000 for the quarter, and Dodd just announced $900,000 raised.
Perhaps to soften the bad news, Dodd’s campaign announced details of an Oct. 23 fundraiser with President Barack Obama in the [...]

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CTGOP Senate candidate Tom Foley launched the next phase of his bid today with a television ad criticizing Sen. Chris Dodd.
The former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland is the second candidate to run television ads in the race after former WWE CEO Linda McMahon started running tv ads more than a week ago.
Foley announced late last [...]

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Senator Chris Dodd met with a group of Connecticut bloggers over the weekend to discuss topics such as his upcoming legislative agenda, healthcare reform and the upcoming re-election fight.
It was the first time I’ve met Senator Dodd, and while I might not have seen eye to eye with him on everything in the past, his [...]

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