Mystery Man switches to Governor's Race

by: Scarce

Thu Dec 03, 2009 at 16:18:47 PM EST

As expected Tom Foley has switched to the Governor's race, dropping his U.S. Senate bid. If early reviews are any indication a new stealth candidate has emerged.

Ken Dixon at CT News:

In one of the more bizarre political announcements the Blogster has covered, Greenwich millionaire Tom Foley, the former ambassador to Ireland, seized the opportunity to fill the GOP void left by Gov. Rell, but declined to articulate why. Perhaps he can stop the sectarian violence in northern Connecticut. After first blowing off reporters' questions in the minuscule meeting room in the Hartford Hilton, he then dodged around reporters massed around him in the hallway. Hello! Who told reporters to come for an announcement? We didn't just arrive to run his amorphous little speech that was read off several pages of script at the podium before about four dozen supporters of his new GOP gubernatorial bid. He wants to be governor. He intimated that he'll use his own millions of dollars. Yet he declined to talk about policy until he develops position papers. Wow. There's a lot to be said about fresh faces in politics, but if you want to run for governor, shouldn't you be able to vamp before reporters for five minutes on the day you announce?

Rick Green at the Hartford Courant:

We don't know. But Greenwich millionaire businessman Tom Foley says he's ready to fight for the job. Foley announced Thursday afternoon that he was abandoning his senate bid to run for the governor's job. He didn't offer much more except to hint that he would not accept public financing. "There will be plenty of time to talk during the campaign,'' an aide said.

Chris Keating/Hartford Courant:

In a Hartford speech that lasted about 6 minutes, Foley gave no details about how he would solve the state's budget deficit or whether he would cut taxes. In a question period with reporters, Foley also declined to give details about spending or health care.