The latest Quinnipiac poll on the governor's race was released today and it shows that among Democrats, Ned Lamont still leads the field with 28 percent, up one percent form the last poll taken, with Dan Malloy coming in second with 18 percent, up seven points since the last poll. The poll also shows that a large number of residents are still undecided (44 percent).
Lamont received the highest favorables among all the candidates at 43 percent (compared to Malloy at 35 percent), but also received the highest unfavorables at 13 percent (compared to Malloy at 9 percent).
On the Republican side, Tom Foley leads the field with 30 percent (up from 17 percent in January) with the rest of the field basically a non-factor at this point. As with the Democrats, the number of residents who are still undecided is still rather high (50 percent).
Other goodies:
Despite the controversy surrounding her, and losing ground by 8 percent since the last poll, Susan Bysiewicz is maintains a solid grasp on the Democratic nomination for Attorney General by 54 percent compared to her closest rival, George Jepsen, who received 10 percent, unchanged since the last poll.
The Q-poll also finds that people support for Sunday alcohol sales (56-39 percent) while opposing keno gambling (70-27 percent) and reinstating toll booths on highways (56-40).
UPDATE: Statments from the Lamont and Malloy camps are below the fold.
UPDATE 2: Where did the CT Mirror get their numbers from?
But Lamont's lead over Malloy also has shrunk from 22 percentage points in November to 16 points in January to 10 points today. In November, Lamont led 23 percent to 9 percent.
1. (If registered Democrat) If the 2010 Democratic primary for governor were being held today and the candidates were Ned Lamont, Dan Malloy, Susan Bysiewicz, Gary LeBeau, Rudy Marconi and Jim Amann, for whom would you vote?
The November poll (which included then front runner Bysiewicz at 26 percent) had Lamont at 23 percent, and Malloy at 9 percent. A difference of 14 percent.
TREND: (If registered Democrat) If the Democratic primary for Governor were being held today and the candidates were Ned Lamont, Dan Malloy, Mary Glassman, Juan Figueroa and Rudy Marconi, for whom would you vote?
Lamont moved up from 23 to 28 (a difference of 5 percent) while Malloy moved up from 9 to 13 18 (a difference of 4 9 percent). The difference between the two is 10 percent but Lamont never had a 22 percentage lead over Malloy in November.
Linda McMahon, who was behind 10-points two months ago, now leads Rob Simmons 44 - 34 percent in the Republican primary for the Connecticut U.S. Senate contest, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
This reverses a 37 - 27 percent Simmons lead in a January 14 survey. In this latest poll, Peter Schiff has 9 percent, with 12 percent undecided.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal tops Merrick Alpert 81 - 6 percent in a Democratic Senate primary and stomps his Republican opponents:
• 61 - 28 percent over McMahon, compared to 64 - 23 percent January 14;
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• 62 - 26 percent over Simmons, compared to 62 - 27 percent;
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• 64 - 21 percent over Schiff, compared to 66 - 19 percent.
Let me start out by saying that I do not speak for the Alpert campaign. My only connection, at this point, is that I have made a $50.00 donation and am enthusiastic about Alpert's candidacy.
I have been a diarist and commentator here at MLN for about 3 and 1/2 years. There was a discussion here once about the differences, if any, between liberals and progressives. Some took the position that the terms were essentially synonymous. I took the opposite view. I have come to the view that not all liberals are progressive. The discussion between Blumenthal and Alpert during their debate on incrementalism is, I believe instructive on this point. Richard Blumenthal, not unlike Chris Dodd, is very much a creature of the system and seems to feel that adjustments on the periphery can help to correct certain imbalances. Alpert, in the style of Progressivism, sees the system as fundamentally skewed and prescribes more sweeping measures to ameliorate the plight of the middle class and the working poor( in other words the vast majority). This is made clear by their respective ideas concerning health care. While the Attorney General's ideas are sound and helpful, they really don't lay a glove on the major issues of the millions of uninsured citizens. Merrick Alpert, on the other hand, clearly states that he believes that health care is a right of all citizens and stands for universal coverage.
Well, Hellooo World! Finally I've finally got the power again, after losing it on Saturday night in the Treepocalypse that hit Greenwich. Here's a few pics from my neighborhood.
These poor folks lost the back of their house - the little white bit sticking out is a mattress - luckily no one was in the bed at the time.
On the same street:
This poor person got a tree through the roof. Similar scenes of devastation all around town. Schools will be closed again tomorrow, as many roads are still blocked and most schools continue without power. Governor Rell visited town today and declared a State of Emergency.
Meanwhile, the IDES OF MARCH have come:
and it's time to get out your popcorn, because so have the crazies.Oh Lord, where to start? How about JD Hayworth, the GOP challenger to John McCain in AZ, who made the leap from Gay Marriage to to Marrying Mr. Ed.
The mind boggles. Really.
Then there's good old Michelle Bachmann, who called President Obama the first "Post-American" president and told her followers:
"Passing the health care bill and moving it to the president's desk in the same manner used by the last administration to pass tax breaks "sounds more like a Chavez tactic in Venezuela"
Um, what? So it's for Republicans to use reconciliation to give tax cuts, but it's an UNAMERICAN EVIL SOCIALIST PLOT for the Democrats to use reconciliation to pass healthcare reform because the Republicans are being completely obstructionist. I feel like I'm reading Orwell's Animal Farm. Bush does: Gooood! Obama Does: Baaaad! I reread Orwell's essay Politics and the English language recently after I'd read a piece by Frank Lutz had written for GOP candidates on the language to use when speaking about healthcare reform. Lutz is the king of massacring the English language with Orwellian political speak. But the dude is scarily effective.
Oh, and just in case we didn't have enough to keep us amused in our CT SEN race, with Linda McMahon and her yacht the "Sexy Bitch" guess who is back and has just entered the race? Our good friend Lee Whitnum! I'm not sure if she's actually filed papers, but according to her website, she announced her candidacy on March 10th. Just in case you've forgotten about Lee, here's an old post with links that sum up our history.
"The Ides of March have come..." "Ay, but they are not gone"
According to a report Sunday by The New York Times, Dodd’s proposal will include oversight of payday loans. McMahon wouldn’t comment directly on the payday loan issue. “I don’t really want to speak to any particular aspect of his program because I’ve not seen it,” she said.
The controversial "constituent database" in Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz's office identifies 2,500 people who served as delegates to Democratic Party nominating conventions in recent years— potentially useful information to Bysiewicz in her candidacy for the Democratic state attorney general's nomination. In addition, Bysiewicz's taxpayer-funded database contains no such information about recent Republican convention delegates, who are in the wrong party to affect Bysiewicz's fortunes. […] A key state legislator — Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, judiciary committee co-chairman— said he's seen the database and it looks to him like "a campaign caller list, a list to go down to make calls from" seeking political support or financial contributions. "It's got the notations, and everything you'd need to know."
Chris Dodd has decided to move forward w/o any Republican support. The Washington Post has the story:
Senate banking committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) said Thursday that he will move forward next week with sweeping legislation to revamp the nation's financial regulatory system, despite failing to resolve key differences with Republicans.
Although Dodd said he will continue bipartisan talks, by unveiling the measure Monday, he is placing pressure on GOP senators to reach a compromise by creating a sense of urgency and by forcing the closed-door debate into the open. Republicans opposed to key elements of the bill, such as new protections for consumers, would have to make their case publicly.
After months of talks, the two sides have been unable to reach agreement over the enforcement powers of a new consumer watchdog, the scope of the Federal Reserve's regulation over banks and the financing of a new authority that would allow the government to wind down large, troubled financial firms without cost to taxpayers. But with the process dragging, Dodd is introducing the bill so his committee could begin discussing the measure before the Easter recess in early April.
One of the major sticking points between Dodd and Corker has been the enforcement powers of the consumer watchdog, which is likely to be housed at the Federal Reserve in the forthcoming bill. While Corker said he thought the two sides had reached a deal on the matter, other government sources disagreed. Republicans wanted an elaborate appeals process to resolve conflicts between the consumer agency and regulators charged with keeping banks in good health. Dodd expressed openness to the idea but never agreed to it.
So the Republicans, having succeeded in defanging consumer protection, now are fighting to make sure not only the teeth but the gums are removed as well. And Dodd is open to the idea!
Yesterday, the House of Representatives defeated House Concurrent Resolution 248 offered by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) by a vote of 356 to 65. The privileged resolution would have directed the President to remove all American troops stationed in Afghanistan in the next 30 days, unless the President deemed such action to be unsafe.
Congressman Jim Himes (CT-4) voted against the resolution, as did Joe Courtney, Chris Murphy, and Rosa DeLauro. John Larson, bless his heart, voted for the resolution.
While Himes believes American involvement in Afghanistan should come to a decisive and successful end as soon as possible, he believes forcing withdrawal in 30-days would put America's security severely at risk. While a 30-day withdrawal might technically be possible, it would mean the near immediate departure of all American troops without the time or resources to save the billions-worth of military equipment currently stationed in Afghanistan. Additionally, Himes argues that America's Pakistani and Afghan anti-terrorism allies have made significant progress in recent weeks, and a sudden departure could undermine this improvement.
"I, as much as anyone, want to make sure we have a robust plan in place to bring our troops home as soon as possible and having accomplished their mission," said Himes. "But it is unreasonable to put our security at risk simply to meet an arbitrarily short withdrawal deadline and irresponsible to walk away from our Afghan and Pakistani allies just as we see them engaging meaningfully."
Christine Stuart, CT News Junkie, calls them "moderate" and "fiscally conservative" Democrats. I call them something else entirely, since many of them have consistently stabbed their fellow Democrats in Hartford in the back as they have voted against Democratic initiatives. I won't name names - Christine does that, but I will give you a hint - 2 are from the same town in which I reside.
Here's what these outstanding legislators said in a letter to their leadership: "The only way we can responsibly address the current deficit is to immediately reduce spending."
Gee, how are you going to do that? Reduce legislator's salaries and allowances? Fire the State Police? Cut allocations to cities and towns? Whatever you do, it's going to fall hardest on the poor and working class. But that's the "only way," isn't it?
Oh wait - there is another way - it's called revenue enhancement - you can start by repealing the cut in Estate Taxes on the rich which you just voted for. And raise income taxes on the wealthy? We can't do that - some of them might want to move if we do. And some might not vote for me. Too bad - that's really the only responsible way out of the deficit.
Still reeling from the tragic death of Dave Roberson, but life goes on in Connecticut politics and Dave would have been observing and commenting with the best of them.
First of all, there are tributes to Dave here and here.
2. In the "How could anyone possibly #@$$^ up their race so badly" file today, we offer the latest on Susan Bysiewicz who apparently appended "special notes" to her office's computer database of over 36,000 citizen names, according to the Courant.
I can see a clever politician making notes like this privately, as an aide-memoire when making visits. But to append personal information such as to a publicly available database? Talk about a boneheaded move.
Some examples
It says that a child of one politician "has issues" - an apparent reference to problems with the law. It mentions a rabbi who "Doesn't shake hands he bows" and "likes Blumenthal." It says a town selectman is a "Retired Teamster" and "has had a kidney transplant."
Any guesses about which politician's child she's referring to?
3. Dannel Malloy is done exploring and will announce that he's officially in the race for Governor today. It will be interesting to see if his position on public financing remains the same. Stay tuned.
4. Does anyone know Tom Dudchik at CT Capitol Report? Because I'm not sure which ass he pulled this headline out of: "Himes Winded After Boys and Girls Club Workout". I know Jim, and he's a pretty fit guy. I've seen him out running here in Cos Cob. Sure, the DC lifestyle probably isn't the healthiest, but I can't see the guy getting winded all that easily. And if you read the article it refers to him "powering through a punishing cardio session of spinning, stair climbing and calisthenics at the Boys & Girls Club of Greenwich."
Later it says:
DeAngelo led the congressman's 10-minute workout Monday that included 20 jumping jacks, 20 push ups, a race up and down the club's stairwell with more than a dozen cheering youngsters, and a spin session on one of the exercise bikes alongside the Greenwich High School football team captain.
"I'm gonna be feeling that tonight," Himes said of the workout as he caught his breath.
Okay, so he just did all that cardio and he had to catch his breath and from that Dudchik decides he's "winded"? Who is this clown? I'd like to see him do cardio side by side Jim Himes and see how winded HE gets.
I write this in a state of shock and disbelief. I know grief is coming, but I still can't believe Dave is gone, so it hasn't fully hit yet. I just found out from a Greenwich Post breaking news alert that Dave Roberson, the Chairman of our town's DTC, was killed in an auto accident on the way home from the RTM meeting last night. No other cars were involved in the accident and police are investigating the cause.
I first met Dave in the cafe of Greenwich Library, where I used to go to write when I was still married and needed an escape from the atmosphere in my house. He saw me plugging away on my laptop in between sandwich bites and we started talking about writing (he was also a writer, more interested in Sci-Fi than the young adult angst stuff I write). When we moved on to politics, we found we had even more in common.
Dave was a tireless worker for Democratic causes. I just can't believe he's gone.
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