by Chris MC on March 18, 2010 10:13 am · 8 comments
Quinnipiac put a poll in the field March 9 through March 15th, and today released a statement on the results:
Among Democrats, 44 percent of voters are undecided, while businessman Ned Lamont gets 28 percent to Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy’s 18 percent. No other candidate tops 4 percent.
As I’ve said elsewhere, polls this far out aren’t terribly meaningful in terms of head to head match-ups and, as others have pointed out, with 44 percent undecided this is still wide open.
What I find interesting about this poll is that Malloy hasn’t spent a dime on paid advertising, it has been all earned media. And Malloy and the campaign has really earned every bit of it, by being the hardest working candidate that I’ve ever seen, putting out substantive statements all the time, offering tons of video, regular email updates to supporters, and so on.
Malloy’s vote share has moved 7 points without spending a dime. Ned hasn’t spent any money on paid media either, and he’s moved but a point. That tells me that the Malloy campaign’s focus on issues, on shoe leather campaigning, on direct contact with the voters, is working. The time will come for paid media, and when it does, Malloy will be competitive.
by Chris MC on March 17, 2010 11:17 am · 0 comments
One week ago today, Dan Malloy officially became a candidate for Governor.
Video:
Malloy continued his torrid pace of appearances, appearing on WFSB’s Face the State, answering questions from panelists Daniela Altimari of The Hartford Courant, Ted Mann of The Day, and host Dennis House.
Video (thanks to ctblogger):
Malloy’s Sunday appearances included a conversation with Connecticut Newsmakers host Tom Monahan.
Video (thanks again to ctblogger):
Dan Malloy discusses missed opportunities at Bradley Airport with the Windsor Locks Democratic Town Committee, and shares a story from “The City That Works”.
The question:
“25% of the educational budget in Killingly is directed to 13% of students because of special education mandates. How will you save regular education in Connecticut?” Dan Malloy and Ned Lamont respond, Tuesday, 23 February 2010.
The Advocate brings us the latest tea leaves in what former Congresscritter Chris Shays is thinking. Here are the important details. One is he has a down payment on a Bridgeport condo. Two is that he hasn’t ruled out a rematch of the 2007 race for Congress. Three he is seeing if he has a strong base in the 4th CD fo a run at governor, because he’s late to the game in the primary race that is shaping up between Mike Fedele and Tom Foley.
Oh yeah, Rock ‘em Sock ‘em robots. Who doesn’t love Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots? They’re right up there with dodgeball as my fave conflict resolution toys, er tools. But what is Marconi saying? That there’s the fifth hand manipulating our plastic block heads into staged confrontations? That all the partisan red blue was a secret plot from Mattel?
Was it really just four weeks ago that Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz was the apparent front-runner for Governor of the state of Connecticut? It seems like much longer than that. According to some wags, the long knives are out and, people are openly speculating her political career might be over. Its astonishing.
Not much to add to the news, so if you haven’t read about it, here is a synopsis:
Susan, just weeks after saying she was committed to campaign finance reform and would participate in public financing, reversed position and declared she was opting out almost in the same breath that she declared she was no longer running for Governor, but instead for Attorney General. Supporters and allies in Hartford with whom she had fought to bring about campaign finance reform went nuts. Susan got into a bit of a scrape with some reporter types while the cameras were rolling.
A blogger questioned whether Susan was technically qualified under state statutes to be Attorney General. Susan called up her friend Dick and asked him to issue a legal opinion saying of course she’s qualified to replace him. Dick’s office said they hadn’t gotten a letter from Susan or from the Secretary of State, and until they did they had nothing to say. Competitors and reporter types started calling Susan out on the specific issue of whether or not she can even be AG and, while they’re in the neighborhood, her resume is pretty thin either way. The SOTS wrote the AG a letter asking several questions, beginning with questioning the constitutionality of the statute in the first place. This is where it goes from bad to worse.
The AG issued an opinion today saying, amongst other things, that yes in fact the statute is constitutional and no, the AG cannot be issuing opinions as to whether or not Susan is qualified under the statute as a practicing attorney. The GOP state chair says that if none of the Democratic contenders, such as Susan, are willing to take the issue to court to get a summary judgement, you bet your ass he will. Meanwhile Susan tells at least one reporter that she thinks the AG agrees with her, in fact that the 15 page opinion confirms what she has been saying all along and, damn the torpedoes, she’s getting on with her candidacy.
Hands smacking foreheads all over the place. Columnist types are penning opinions and commenters on the blogs are issuing early political obits. Susan defenders fuming this is a bunch of crap, and a political ambush.
New Britain’s Pulaski Democratic Club was the site of the first salvo of formal endorsements by sitting Democratic officials in the race for Governor.
Stepping to the podium yesterday afternoon were Berlin Mayor Adam Salina; State Senator and dean of New Britain’s delegation at the capitol, Don DeFronzo; State Rep. (and New Britain Democratic Mayoral challenger) Tim O’Brien; and Berlin Democratic Town Chair Fred Jortner. New Britain Democratic Town Chair John McNamara emceed the joint announcement. Video:
It’s now official. The Courant is reporting that Danbury’s mayor Mark Boughton has officially announced that he is running for Governor on the Republican ticket. Even unannounced, he was polling at 6%, according to the Courant article.
