Drinking Liberally in New Milford

Dan Malloy jumping off of the bench of the Danbury Whalers shortly after scoring the first goal in Whalers' history.

[update] I have an interview from after the game at TK's. Let me say, in advance, that he was a bit reluctunt to give it since I am a political blogger... But as a hockey fan I promised to make it about the real story: The first goal in Danbury Whalers' franchise history, his assist, and the team with no more mention about his family than "say hi to'em".  The young man is a team player. (Saw ctblogger at the game, as well, and he had his cam rolling so he may have some footage to add to the game story).

The latest KWIN-uh-pe-ack© numbers are out for the CT-Gov race of 2010 and ctblogger looks at the data overall and the questions a bit, while Ct Bob looks at the inside game of the likely voter numbers.

Needless to say, the numbers look good for the Democratic party candidates no matter how it goes down.

Democrats lead in any possible general election matchups among registered voters:

• Lamont over Foley 45 - 33 percent;
• Lamont over Fedele 49 - 27 percent;
• Lamont over Griebel 49 - 25 percent;
• Malloy over Foley 44 - 33 percent;
• Malloy over Fedele 49 - 26 percent;
• Malloy over Griebel 51 - 25 percent.

"The Democrats haven't won a race for Governor in Connecticut in 24 years. Could this be their year?

"Could this be their year?" Considering the numbers show that the only hope the GOP has is if the Dem candidates start tossing live grenades at each other while simultaneously carrying out Sepukku? Both the Lamont campaign, IMHO the leader in the primary, and the Malloy campaign can point to some good news in it with both improving their favorabilities among their base a lot and in both being able to trounce the GOP opposition.

As far as the GOP side of this? The second paragraph in this snippet from connpolitics.tv pretty much sums it up:

Foley leads Republicans with 48 percent of the vote. Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele garners 13 percent and business advocate Oz Griebel 7 percent.

“The governor’s race is overshadowed by the Senate battle between Linda McMahon and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and the controversy over Foley’s arrests is not having much impact,” Schwartz said. “So Foley has been unharmed and voters still don’t know much about Fedele or Griebel.”

Fedele who? Grieber what? As far as Foley? If it were not for the recent news about vehicular assaults and a circus like divorce I think I might be asking who he is, as well.

Checking the ct.gop site, given the latest poll you'd think they would have something up...

But, apparently even Chris Healy hasn't found anything good to write about this poll, either. (Not yet nor as of the time I am writing this, anyways.) Just some mumbling to himself and trying to get mileage out of a relative non-story about an Attorney General going to a meeting of evil American trial lawyers.

In Connecticut, the GOP dusted off their strike at Dick Blumenthal’s character and integrity, asking whether the attorney general would come clean about his weekend jaunt.

“No more lies. Dick Blumenthal owes the voters of Connecticut a straight answer: Did he travel to Canada yesterday to raise money from his fellow liberal trial lawyers, or did he send his bag man Harry Reid to collect his share instead?” asked NRSC spokeswoman Amber Marchand.

Blumenthal spokeswoman Maura Downes would only confirm he attended the event, as did New Hampshire Rep. Paul Hodes.

Aside from Healy's obvious reasoning (and even more obvious conflict of interests in the GOP candidate race) ranting and raving about Blumenfeld 24/7 over at the GOP site...

Let us look at who Healy is happy to take donations from, OK?

Thank you for supporting the Connecticut Republicans-Federal account. These funds are used exclusively for the purpose of supporting Federal candidates and federal election activities. Contributions from state lobbyists and Connecticut state contractors are accepted and allowed in this account.

So Chris Healy, a former lobbyist himself, accepts lobby money for his party activities, complaining that a candidate on the other side MAY actually be doing the same and taking money from a PAC that wants to lobby him? Hypocrisy much?

Christopher C. Healy is a lobbyist in Hartford at the law firm Updike, Kelly & Spellacy, has worked on political campaigns at the local, state and national level and has served on the Republican State Central Committee.

Should I even bother to check his CT GOP and their candidates for any lobbying interests and their PAC donations? Too obvious to even waste the effort.

As far as the national level equivalent of Christopher Healy? Michael Steele had this to say about the Senate race when he was in town:

Asked about Peter Schiff, the Weston money manager who will primary McMahon on Aug. 10, Healy and Steele said they would support the party’s nominee.

“If he wins we’re behind him just as much as we’re behind Linda McMahon, but your questions were more focused on her,” said Healy, whose wife works for the McMahon campaign.

Steele said he expects Republicans to be competitive in 44 states this election season.

“The people of Connecticut are no different than people anywhere else around the country. They’re sick and tired of being sick and tired,” Steele said. “We’re winning again in the northeast. How crazy is that.”

It is real clear that the GOP isn't winning anything big in CT this year, so it is safe to say that both Healy and Steele are off the charts crazy.

It is way too early in the morning but I figured I'd check for the latest Quinnipiac poll results for the Connecticut Governor's race:

In an early look at the 2010 election for Connecticut Governor, Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz runs best among possible Democratic challengers, trailing Republican incumbent Jodi Rell 46 - 40 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Gov. Rell leads 91 - 5 percent among Republicans and 56 - 26 percent among independent voters, while Bysiewicz leads 74 - 12 percent among Democrats.

Businessman Ned Lamont trails Rell 53 - 33 percent and Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy loses 52 - 33 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.

In a Democratic primary matchup, Bysiewicz gets 26 percent to 23 percent for Lamont, with 9 percent for Malloy. No other contender tops 3 percent.

With no candidate on the right to compare, all I can say is that it looks like Susan Bysiewicz is the early front runner in the race for the Democratic party nomination.

And it looks like Rell may still be able to squeak out on a bit of a high note barring anymore news of the scandal involving Dautrich - AKA: Rell's Brain - and Quinnipiac leaking out. Of course, this poll was, I believe, taken before the news of subpoenas going out in that scandal.

Voters are starting to trend towards a lower opinion of Connecticut political ethics during the Rell years... Quite punch to the gut when you consider Rowland was the previous Governor.


Why this trend? Might just be because of information:


The more information they have, the lower their opinion goes.

Ct Local Politics is running some straw polls. The first one is here.

If the 2010 election for governor were being held today, and the candidates were Rob Simmons and Richard Blumenthal, who would you vote for?

Selection Votes Richard Blumenthal (D) 49% 107 Rob Simmons (R) 48% 104 I don't know 3% 7 218 votes total Poll powered by Pollhost. Poll results are subject to error. Pollhost does not pre-screen the content of polls created by Pollhost customers.

And the other ones, matching Malloy VS Simmons and Courtney VS Sullivan are here.

Right now Blumenthal has a slight lead over Simmmons, and the other matchups make it look even more dismal for anyone running under the Republican banner in Blue Connecticut as Malloy has a 25% lead, and Courtney has a 37% lead.

Go on over and vote.

I am hoping that the Republicans are starting to get the point concerning just how far right wingnutty their politics are viewed as in Connecticut and the rest of the nation.

Nobody is willing to stand behind the GOP elephant anymore... It has crapped on us all too many times.