Matt “Mad Max” Breslow files the first horse race political story of the election season, which means that the election preseason is officially over. I will now translate all the important parts.

Candidates have waged most of this year’s mayoral campaign behind the scenes so far, but that’s about to change.

Nothing much has been happening except fund raising and meetings about how to spend funds.

However, Scialabba said the legwork began in April and is several months ahead of schedule, compared with Moccia’s campaigns in 2003 and 2005. The campaign soon will become much more visible, with Republicans going door-to-door and hosting coffees, Scialabba said.

Now that money has been raised off Republican supporters, the campaign plans to meet with more Republican supporters.

Matt Wagner, campaign manager for Democratic mayoral nominee Walter Briggs, said much has been done behind the scenes for the former Planning Commission leader’s run to unseat Moccia.

Up to this point nothing has been going on.

“We’ve been raising a lot of volunteers. We’ve been raising money,” Wagner said. “That’s been the focus of the early effort.”

With September’s arrival, he said, Briggs has been attending daily events for a little more than a week, visiting constituency groups and neighborhood organizations.

Now that money has been raised off Democratic supporters, the campaign plans to meet with more Democratic supporters.

Briggs hopes to replicate the process followed when the Planning Commission, which he headed, formulated a new master Plan of Conservation and Development for Norwalk. Briggs, who stepped aside as commission chairman to run for mayor, wants to talk to as many different neighborhoods and groups as possible, Wagner said.

“We’re hoping to have a very neighbor-to-neighbor-oriented campaign,” he said.

No one knows who Briggs is so he has to talk to as many groups as possible.

On the Republican front, a Web site dedicated to Moccia’s campaign - his first - went live Friday at www.mocciaformayor.com.

Briggs’ campaign Web site, www.walterbriggs.org, likely will be fully functional in the next week, Wagner said.

Political outsider Scott Merrell - who said the state informed him he collected enough signatures to challenge as a petition candidate - also has a Web site at www.merrellrevolution.com.

You’d think with all these “behind the scenes” work they’d have gotten out the candidate web site out there earlier.

The Republicans may open their headquarters at 20 N. Main St. in the next week, Scialabba said. Bags of literature are ready for door-to-door campaigning, and Moccia and candidates on the GOP underticket will hold events at coffee shops to meet residents.

Good thing they thought about this before the reporter asked the question about campaign headqaurters.

The Democrats, who have a temporary headquarters at 25 Van Zant St., likely will settle on a permanent site in the next week, he said.

Ruh-roh, they didn’t think of a better answer than the fall back to the headquarters they had last year.

Moccia and Briggs have held four fundraisers. Moccia plans at least four more, including one featuring Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell.

Moccia will have collected more funds than he did in all of 2005 by the time the next round of campaign finance reports is due in five weeks, Scialabba said.

“We’ve been doing what campaigns have to do, and that’s raise money,” he said.

…

Wagner wouldn’t discuss fundraising specifics but said the campaign will announce a goal once it’s reached.

Republicans will tell you what they’ve raised because they are fundraising gods. Democrats won’t because they haven’t raised enough money to be statistically significant.

Merrell said he planned to step up campaigning now that Labor Day weekend has ended, continuing to visit residents door-to-door and attend public events. A candidate can “get no traction” campaigning during summer, when people are vacationing and enjoying outdoor activities, Merrell said.

No one was interested in Merrell’s candidacy before Labor Day and not much will change after Labor Day, but Merrell will give it his best shot.

His campaign won’t mail out ads or conduct “robo-calls.” People don’t like being bothered on the phone or receiving junk mail, he said.

“I’m not going to do an invasive campaign,” Merrell said.

Just what Norwalk needs, another invisible campaign.

source: The Advocate, Mayoral race to heat up as summer ends, By Matt Breslow, September 4 2007