After Simmons lost to McMahon at the convention he knew it was over. The Republicans turned to a rookie candidate with deep pockets.
A Republican source says Rob Simmons told his staff Monday he will end his campaign for U.S. Senate at a press conference today in New London.
On Monday night, Simmons called a press conference for 9 a.m. in New London to make an "announcement on the future of the campaign for U.S. Senate," immediately prompting speculation he was dropping out [...]
[A] source who declined to be identified said that Simmons' staff was told the campaign was ending, bowing to the difficulties of fighting the best-financed candidate in Connecticut history: McMahon, a co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment who is seeking office for the first time.
McMahon, who had contributed $16 million to her campaign by May 1, is on pace to break all campaign spending records in the state by the Fourth of July. She says she has budgeted $50 million of her personal fortune in an effort to become the first Connecticut Republican to win a Senate race since Lowell P. Weicker Jr. in 1982.
UPDATE: The Richard Blumenthal campaign issued the following statement regarding GOP senate nominee Linda McSteriods:
The people of Connecticut face a clear, stark choice between Dick Blumenthal, who will continue standing up for them against powerful interests on issues that matter, like their jobs and health care, and Linda McMahon's self interest that's gained her multi-million dollar profits peddling steroid-fueled violence to our kids, exploiting her workers, and obstructing investigations into possible crimes under her watch
CT-Sen: Rob Simmons will reportedly drop out Political pop quiz: You are the Connecticut Republican Party, the nation's richest state and a solid Democratic stronghold. Your Democratic opponent has been busted (fairly or not) for lying or exaggerating his military service during the Vietnam War. Do you:
Nominate a decorated Vietnam War vet, retired Colonel, and winner of two Bronze Stars, with a proven track record of winning elections in tough political terrain
Nominate the teabagger co-founder of the WWE
If you were smart, you'd pick option number one. But the rules said you had to be a Republican, therefore...
A Republican source says Rob Simmons told his staff Monday he will end his campaign for U.S. Senate at a press conference today in New London.
SNIP
McMahon, who had contributed $16 million to her campaign by May 1, is on pace to break all campaign spending records in the state by the Fourth of July. She says she has budgeted $50 million of her personal fortune in an effort to become the first Connecticut Republican to win a Senate race since Lowell P. Weicker Jr. in 1982.
SNIP
$50 million dollar budget for the US Senate race! And by May 1 McMahon had already spent $16 million. Geez, and Dan Malloy whines about Ned spending $1 million so far in ads to counter Tom Foley's. Talk about wearing blinders, geez.
CNN's Randi Kaye looks at Linda McMahon's senatorial campaign. She says she'll spend $50 million to win. Of particular note is that CNN seems to have been inspired by this youtube video, I assume from a CT blogger who shall remain nameless.
1. The Washington Post is showing the love for Linda McMahon this morning, calling her "a remarkably polished and poised first-time candidate."
McMahon...is ready to embrace the serious success of the company and even the aura of scrappiness it lends her. Then with poise and legalese, she distances herself from wrestling scenes that are sexually explicit and purposefully inflammatory, moments her opponents hope to highlight. That trick is made even tougher by McMahon's star turns inside the ring. While her appearances were nowhere near as regular as those of Jesse "The Body" Ventura, the former governor of Minnesota, her groin-kicking alter-ego nevertheless did combat with her own husband, son and daughter. Watching her recite well-coached corporate talking points to reconcile the two can be a spectacle in its own right.
The Post goes on to lead us through her "well-coached corporate talking points" without questioning their validity. Great journalism, Post!
2. Rob Simmons is not a happy camper. First he was dissed by Joe Scarborough, who gave both Republican Senate hopeful Linda McMahon and Democratic prospective Senate candidate Dick Blumenthal airtime on his Feb 12th "Morning Joe" show. But according to Simmons, ""We inquired, we inquired, we inquired and we didn't get on."
Simmons is also "concerned" about the neutrality of CT GOP head Chris Healy, given his wife Suzan Bibisi's position with the McMahon campaign. According to McMahon's latest FEC report, Bibisi was paid $6,532 on Nov. 30 and a total of $7,206 in December.
A person who "understands the thinking within the Simmons camp" explained:
Another person who understands the thinking within the Simmons camp used far stronger language.
"While the Simmons campaign has held out hope that Healy would prove to be an honest broker, they have since lost confidence based on what they believe are Healy's actions in support of McMahon's campaign and the fact he has a big financial stake that grows each day McMahon remains in the race," the person said.
Healy, during an interview Sunday, said he is still an honest broker and if it can be proved that he asked a delegate or potential delegate to the Republican convention to back McMahon over Simmons, "then I'll quit. ... That's ridiculous." Healy said it is inappropriate for him to support any one candidate, but he said that recently, at the suggestion of some other party insiders, he did ask Simmons whether he would be open to running for the former congressional seat he lost in 2006.
"When people ask me to think about it and make an offer to discuss it with the Simmons people, I have a responsibility to do that," Healy said, emphasizing he was only the messenger.
I remember Anderson Scooper bringing up this conflict of interest at CTLP when we heard the news about Ms. Biblisi hire by the McMahon campaign. He was immediately piled on by the wingers. Wonder if some of those same wingers are amongst those expressing concern now that their candidate is getting buried in McMahon bucks and Healy asked him to bow out of the Senate race and run for Congress. Just as the messenger. #cough#
3. Did you know that Attorney General Dick Blumenthal is the consummate political outsider? Neither did I, but that's the narrative, apparently.
Richard Blumenthal shrugged off the prospect of an Obama campaign visit as "an open question," and has steered clear of Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., whose poor reelection prospects contributed to his decision to retire. "I have been independent of Senator Dodd and everyone else in Washington," Blumenthal, the state attorney general, told Yale University students last week.
UPDATE ctblogger:Today, the Government Administration and Elections committee is holding a public hearing on the Citizens' Election Program. You can watch the proceedings online at the CT-N website.
Make sure to watch the video highlights from the Sunday morning talk shows below the fold.
Public Policy Polling has just released their new numbers for CT-Sen. A stark contrast to what they had been.
When Chris Dodd retired last night his seat went from one of the most vulnerable to one of the safest for Senate Democrats. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal leads all three of the Republicans in the race by at least 30 points in polling we conducted Monday and Tuesday night before Dodd's announcement.
Blumenthal is unusually popular, especially in hyper partisan times when voters like few politicians. 59% have a favorable opinion of him to just 19% who see him negatively. It's no surprise that he's liked by 71% of Democrats and 60% of independents, but even Republicans view him favorably by a 37/35 margin. It doesn't take a lot of hands to count the number of Democratic politicians with positive numbers among GOP voters these days.
Blumenthal leads Rob Simmons 59-28, Linda McMahon 60-28, and Peter Schiff 63-23. It would take an epic collapse for him not to be Connecticut's next Senator.
Maybe this has been on the radar for awhile and I just haven't noticed but the thought that Simmons would be actively seeking the blessing of this new conservative godfather out of South Carolina is to me both appalling and fascinating. To what levels will Rob Simmons stoop to curry favor with the radical right? Wait and see, I guess.
DeMint has already endorsed conservative Assemblyman Chuck DeVore over party favorite Carly Fiorina in the California Senate race and was the first member of Congress to back conservative Marco Rubio over Gov. Charlie Crist in the closely watched Florida Senate race. He has been openly considering an endorsement of a conservative political unknown in the Illinois Senate race against moderate Republican Rep. Mark Kirk.
And in a sign of his growing influence, several of the party's more moderate candidates are looking for DeMint's support to give them some conservative street cred, like Rob Simmons of Connecticut and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, who have begun to reach out to the junior senator from South Carolina.
These moves are signs that candidates believe a blessing from DeMint not only may hold off right-wing challenges in the Republican primaries but also could open up new lines of funding from an increasingly passionate, grass-roots conservative movement. [Teabaggers]
There's little good news in this just released Quinnipiac poll for Chris Dodd. He's been trending in the high 30's for the last seven months now, while Rob Simmons is back up to near his high.
Of some interest though is that there now seems to a race among the Republicans. Linda McMahon's millions in ad buys have put her on the map, as have to a smaller extent Tom Foley, both at the expense of Rob Simmons.
Counting on your opponent/s to weaken themselves and deplete their resources is not a winning strategy though, as eventually Chris Dodd or someone else will have to win the seat, not expect someone else to lose it.
Dan Michak of The Journal Inquirer digs up some dirt, literally, on the questionable ethics of Rob Simmons. It's behind a pay-wall but here is a lump of coal for your stocking:
Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Robert R. Simmons on a single day last summer accepted a bundle of nearly $105,000 in campaign cash from contributors associated with the coal industry, Federal Election Commission records show.
The money, which amounted to 11 percent of the $967,907 Simmons collected in the third quarter, came from 108 individuals and three corporate political action committees linked to coal companies and businesses that service the coal mining industry in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, and Utah.
About two months after his big payday, Simmons wrote in his campaign blog that he had concluded "I was wrong" about his previous support for what some environmentalists say would be critical regulation to fight global warming.
The so-called "cap-and-trade" concept, which the coal industry strongly opposes, would limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gasses, in part by requiring fossil fuel power plants to pollute less.
The former 2nd District congressman reportedly has called it a "cap-and-tax" system that amounts to "a dangerous way to govern."
Simmons, who along with four other Republicans is seeking to unseat five-term Democratic Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, said in announcing his third-quarter fundraising results last month that Connecticut's Senate seat "cannot be bought."
The entire piece is eye-opening for those of us who thought Simmons was simply trying to impress the Teabag crowd by taking some far right positions on the environment. Now we have some damning evidence he did so for financial gain for his campaign.
I was wrong about two issues I supported in Congress - the Employee Free Choice Act (also known as "card check") and "cap and trade." After hearing more from the people who would be most affected by these bills, I became convinced they would cause more harm than good and I would oppose them in the Senate.
I learned of the enormous burden these two proposals would impose on job producers in the form of dramatically higher operating costs, and how those costs would be passed in turn onto workers and consumers. The net result will be an even weaker economy and fewer jobs.
Rob Simmons has long burnished his reputation as a moderate Republican in the classic New England mode: conservative on fiscal matters, liberal on social issues. He supports abortion rights, earned top grades from a national gay rights group and sits on the honorary board of Republicans for Environmental Protection.
He's also been a supporter of two bills long championed by liberals, union members and environmentalists.
The first is the Employee Free Choice Act, commonly known as "card check,'' which would permit workers to form a union if a majority sign pro-union cards, instead of voting by secret ballot. The second is a climate change bill known in political shorthand as Cap and Trade.
Simmons backed both measures when he served in Congress. But now, as a candidate for U.S. Senate, he has changed his mind.
At least one of his opponents has noticed and is calling out Simmons on his 'change of heart'.
"While Rob Simmons can spin this all he wants, he is in a primary battle and is desperate to get the support of real, principled Republicans,'' Tiffany Romero Grossman, spokeswoman for Sam Caligiuri, said in an email this morning. Both Caligiuri and Simmons are seeking the Republican nomination to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd.
"Everyone has the right to change their mind on where they stand - but doing so years later, once confronted with a competitive primary, simply stinks of political pandering,'' Grossman said in the email.
This, of course, is pandering of the most venal sort, and it's both hard to believe Simmons is attempting it in so blatant a fashion or that it will be successful. The teabag crowd have already put Simmons on notice for his past indiscretions of voting moderately on a variety of social issues when he was in congress.
SIMMONS: This state and this country needs people like you. [...] I've made it a habit over the years to carry my Constitution in my pocket as a reminder of what this country and what this country's government is all about. But more recently because of the participation of many of you, I've added something to my Constitution. I've added a tea bag. [audience chuckles]
The video is from mid summer in July.
Watch Simmons adding a tea bag to his pocket Constitution at a recent tea party gathering and excitedly addressing a Norwich tea party in July.
Rob Simmons makes a last minute, end of quarter plea for campaign contributions. Remember, this is only a test. Nothing to be concerned about if you're a Simmons supporter. Go about your daily business.
On the undercard last night at the #CTGOPBattleRoyale was a classic cage match that Connecticut voters have grown very familiar with through the years: Rob Simmons vs. The Truth!
As usual, it wasn't much of a fight.
Former Super-Spy Simmons' highly placed intelligence sources seem to have tipped him off to the fact that warrantless, illegal wiretaps were apparently responsible for stopping the recent NYC terror plot. He started out with a Fallacious Fearmongering Facebuster:
"Today's arraignment of Najibullah Zazi in New York City and last week's arrest Hosam Maher Husein in Dallas, both suspected terrorists accused of plotting to use weapons of mass destruction inside America, came as a result of FBI surveillance. These are stark reminders that our enemies are working day and night to kill us. Senator Dodd would have us drop our guard, and his bill undermines President Obama's ability to fulfill his Constitutional responsibility to protect America."
But The Truth came back with a vicious Flying Clothesline of Fact (as reported last week by the New York Daily News):
"The Justice Department, CIA and FBI applied for a flurry of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants, which would allow the agencies to spy on other suspected terrorists in New York, sources said."
Yes, FISA worked.
Simmons then attempted to respond with a weak Lying Leg Drop:
"Telecommunications firms should not be penalized for their cooperation with the government on programs designed to protect Americans in the case of emergency situations where a terrorist attack may be imminent"
But was dropped to the mat for good by his old adversary yet again (as reported this April in the NY Times):
"The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews."
Rob Simmons vs. the Truth: a classic matchup, and one we're likely to see again and again as the #CTGOPBattleRoyale continues.
While many Republicans around the state spent this somber anniversary kicking up their heels at tea parties (see the above display in Hartford this morning), others decided to spend it asking their teabagger base for money:
From: "Jim Barnett, Simmons for Senate" (info@joinrobsimmons.com)
Date: September 11, 2009 4:38:41 PM EDT
To: XXX
Subject: New Poll: Rob Up 10
Dear XXX,
As you head out for the weekend, I wanted to share a piece of great news. Rob has expanded his lead over Senator Dodd and now leads by 10 points -- 49 to 39 percent.
Today's Rasmussen poll also shows Rob as the only candidate with positive ratings from Connecticut voters, with a favorable/unfavorable rating of 53/32 percent.
Though this result is excellent news, there's only one poll that matters: the one on Election Day. Expect Senator Dodd to double down in a bid to save his job at any cost.
Will you keep the heat on Senator Dodd by making a contribution of $100, $50, or any amount you can afford today?
Your support will keep our campaign moving in the right direction, and serve as a tremendous vote of confidence in our next Senator, Rob Simmons.
Sincerely,
Jim Barnett
Campaign Manager
Simmons for Senate
P.S. Just 19 days remain before the crucial September 30th fundraising deadline. A strong finish will again confirm that Senator Dodd has lost the confidence of voters in Connecticut, and needs to go.
But sending a fundraising email about the constantly Republican-leaning Rasmussen polling this race for the first time and showing you with the same lead you've had for months more than a year before election day... and doing it on the anniversary of 9/11?
This weekend, editorial boards of Connecticut newspapers universally condemned the "increasingly confrontational" acts of "mindless thuggery" on the part of organized right-wing activists attempting to shut down open debate on health care across the state. Here are a few of their words:
Some right-leaning activists have decided that the best way to win the hearts and minds of voters is to shout down or otherwise intimidate members of Congress who are holding public meetings about health care during the summer recess.
These disruptive protesters may enjoy some success. But the strategy of organized chaos, larded with off-putting invective and disrespect for other audience members, won't be so in the long run....
Mainstream political leaders of either party ought to denounce and disavow such insulting drivel.
The events of the past week or so around the country aimed at fomenting opposition to the health care reform package before Congress cross all sorts of lines. Evidence shows they are one part legitimate protest alongside a larger helping of mindless thuggery....
We must, as a nation, recognize the difference between protest and hooliganism. Misinformation campaigns -- claiming, for instance, that Washington is out to euthanize old people -- inspire fear and panic. And those dedicated to maintaining the status quo capitalize to stifle debate.
What began as the "Tea Party" movement, demonstrations aimed at sending the message that Washington was spending too much and protecting special interests at the expense of working people, is in some cases now turning to mob mentality.
A network of Web sites, conservative radio and TV talk show hosts are conspiring to whip up that growing anger and manifest it at community meetings hosted by congressmen and senators who support health care reform and other initiatives of President Barack Obama. Instructions on how to disrupt and shout down speakers at these town hall gatherings are circulating on the Internet.
This newspaper is a strong supporter of free speech, of the right of citizens to gather and make known their grievances. But we see no justification for intentionally hindering the ability of elected leaders to interact with their constituents.
With Peter Schiff claiming to have raised over $800,000 for his still unannounced campaign for the Republican nomination for Senate, the other candidates he has now passed by in the money race - Rob Simmons and Tom Foley - must really be feeling the pressure to compete for right-wing activists condemned in the papers above, and who might be inclined to support an insurgent candidate like Schiff.
Rob Simmons, presciently, was already courting and embracing the teabaggers back in May in Woodbury, telling a group of right-wing Dump Dodd activists that their "movement" excited him and that he would join their fight against the "womb-to-tomb" "socialism" he saw in America today (quoted text below starts at apx. 1:25):
...And what I see today in this country is socialism! Womb-to-tomb government involvement in our lives. I didn't spend four years in Vietnam, 10 years in the CIA, and 4 years working for Barry Goldwater against the Soviet Union and the Communist threat in Asia just to see socialism arise here at home....
One of the most exciting things that's happened to me this year over and above seeing your [Dump Dodd] movement is going to the tea parties.... I went to 3, and it was exciting...
The tea parties and "the movement" are just symbols of that speaking up which makes me excited and makes me optimistic about the future.
Last week, Rob Simmons came out against the confirmation of now-Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor, caving to right wing pressure even as nine current Republican senators voted for her confirmation. Given the dynamic of this race, would Simmons even be able to state out loud that he believes President Obama was born in the United States?
With almost exactly a year until the Republican primary and huge warchests being built up by at least three candidates, it's going to be a long, hard, slog for the Republican nomination for Senate as they race hard to the hard right for their financial and activist support.
Peter Schiff is having a Ron Paul-style moneybomb day, with the goal of getting a lot of donations in a short period of time. So far he's around $170,000 today. By way of comparison, Rob Simmons had raised about $750k this year (and spent about 200,000) to 6/30/09. Since Schiff hasn't formally announced yet he's still testing the waters with an exploratory committee. Considering he can also self-finance the waters look pretty good.
Rob Simmons must be a bit concerned, too. He likely won't raise near as much as Schiff or Tom Foley in their quest to take the seat away from Senator Dodd.
Ron Paul sends his regards.
Dear Supporter,
Our good friend in Liberty, Peter Schiff, is planning a run for Senate in Connecticut against Chris Dodd. The grassroots across the country are organizing a money bomb for him today to raise money and send a powerful message to the political elites that freedom is popular and that Liberty can.
Our country needs Peter Schiff in Washington, and you can help today. Please go to www.Schiffathon.com right now and make a contribution. Together, we can help make history.
In Liberty,
Ron Paul
A great day for the Paultards all around. Ron's son Rand declared he was running for the U.S. Senate in Kentucky, as a Republican of course.
The race to the far right is now officially on in the hotly contested Republican Senate Primary. Rob Simmons says he would oppose the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor, on the same day she will be confirmed by a huge majority of both Republican and Democratic votes in the Senate, citing only her upholding of judicial precedent in the Ricci case as his sole reason for voting against her:
"Despite Judge Sotomayor's impressive personal story, she denied justice to a group of Connecticut firefighters virtually without explanation," Simmons said in a statement. "They deserved better, and the Supreme Court agreed. Thus, I could not in good conscience reward her with a promotion at the expense of my constituents whose own promotions she unfairly denied."
So far, according to media reports, Republican Senators Alexander, Bond, Collins, Graham, Gregg, Lugar, Martinez, and Snowe have all indicated they plan to vote to confirm Sotomayor. But not the "moderate" Rob Simmons. Because he has a primary to win, and a rabid far-right Republican base to cater to.
Has anyone asked Rob Simmons whether he believes President Obama was born in the United States?
Update: A Courant editorial yesterday called the hardcore right-wing Republican opposition to Sotomayor - a group which now includes Simmons - "shameful" andd a "slap in the face to Hispanic voters":
But it's a disgrace that she received the favorable vote of only one - Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina - of seven Judiciary Committee Republicans when the panel reported her nomination to the floor last week. She is likely to receive the support of only a handful of Republicans when the full Senate votes. It's sad when a once-statesmanlike senator such as Orrin Hatch of Utah, who at one time respected executive appointment power and would vote to confirm the qualified judicial appointments of the president of the other party, has joined the partisan bushwhackers....
The deep partisan divide in Washington is growing more poisonous, as Republican opposition to the Sotomayor nomination and a broad range of Obama initiatives attest. GOP rejection of Judge Sotomayor is more than a slap in the face to Hispanics. It's one more blow to the idea that people of differing views and ideologies can, when it counts, work together for the common good.
Sam Caligiuri fires the first shot in what is sure to be a months-long culture war for the right-wing base in the coming Republican Senate primary by stating he would vote against the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court (campaign press release via Facebook):
Southington - Earlier today, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination as our nation's next Supreme Court Justice, with a full Senate vote scheduled for early August. Despite her laudable personal achievements and years of public service, I cannot support this nomination and I ask Senator Dodd to oppose it as well.
I have come to this conclusion as many Americans have, because a judicial nomination should be measured by the nominee's approach to the law and not a personal story, however appealing it may be. How are we are supposed to trust that Judge Sotomayor will not be an activist judge after having made clear statements to the contrary?...
It will be interesting to see how Tom Foley and Rob Simmons say they will vote on Sotomayor. I wonder if either of them would even feel comfortable saying out loud that Barack Obama is a natural-born United States citizen. The battle for the Republican nomination over the next year will be a run to the right, and no candidate can afford to completely write off the most hardcore primary voters in that party, no matter how factually- or sanity-challenged they happen to be.
For more on the GOP primary circus that will soon possibly be taking over the Nutmeg state, make sure to read Colin McEnroe's hilarious column from this past weekend, wherein he auditions for the position of ringmaster Chief Senior Nationwide Analyst:
I wanted to meet Caligiuri for my own purposes, because he is one of at least three people seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, in order to run against Chris Dodd in 2010. I have decided to become an expert on that election because I think it has the potential to attract national interest. If I become a knowledgeable pundit, I can probably go on CNN and touch Wolf Blitzer's beard, which is said to cure arthritis.
This is what the Chairman of the Connecticut Republican Party had to say yesterday on his personal blog about the efforts of state Democratic lawmakers to preserve F-22 funding (in opposition to the efforts of both President Obama and John McCain):
Democrats, by a large, don't have much use for the military. They present missing medals and talk about providing health care for veterans, but the entire culture is foreign to them. So, they rarely take military matters seriously, unless it's something like the closure of a submarine base. But even there, most people, even Democrats, concede it was former Congressman Rob Simmons and Gov. Rell who did all the heavy lifting.
The merits of the (failed) efforts to preserve funding for the F-22 - and his smearing of all Democrats as anti-military - aside, Chris Healy deserves a Congressional Medal of Hypocrisy for that last sentence. In fact, both Governor Rell and then-Congressman Rob Simmons praised Democrats for their help in saving the sub base at the time. This was Governor Rell in 2005:
"We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to 'Team Connecticut:' to the members of Congress, the state agency commissioners and their employees, the Attorney General, the state legislators, the SUBASE Realignment Coalition, the municipal officials and all of the local business and community leaders - and everyone in the community - who came together to achieve this tremendous victory,"
And this was Rob Simmons, on a voicemail to Joe Courtney, at the height of his losing 2006 Congressional re-election effort (h/t HardcoreDem on Youtube):
Rob Simmons paid to unleash his very first TV ad of the 2006 campaign -- a personal and negative attack on accomplished former State Legislator Joe Courtney -- claiming personal success in saving the submarine base from base realignment and closure (BRAC), politicizing a sensitive issue for eastern Connecticut.
Simmons obviously forgot that just a few short months ago, he personally called Joe Courtney to thank Joe for not politicizing the issue and for helping him save the base.
In his own words excerpted from the message, "And I just wanted to say to you how much I respect your decision back on May 13 not to take political advantage of the process, uh, uh, I think that was the, the high road. I think that without the support of, of everybody involved we wouldn't have been successful."
And who was Rob Simmons' campaign manager at the time he was busy losing that race with hypocritical attacks? Chris Healy. Still leaving the "high road" for the exclusive use of his opponents, as always.
Stuff like this is a mere preview of the hurricane of slime and hypocrisy we can look forward to out of the Simmons camp for the next 12 months until the Republican primary.
The second part of this months' Quinnipiac poll was released this morning, showing Chris Dodd's approval rating continuing to steadily climb as he has largely consolidated support among Democrats. Dodd's approval rating is now at 42% and 52% disapproval, compared with 38%/53% in May and 33%/58% in April. Dodd is in very good shape with Democrats, increasing his lead vs. Merrick Alpert in a hypothetical Democratic primary, from +20 to +34, and 72% of Democrats now approve of how he is doing his job.
While Dodd continues to trail Rob Simmons by about the same margin as he did in May in a head to head matchup, he is now tied with or leading all of the other GOP contenders, and there are some details in the numbers that suggest that Simmons' lead is deceiving. For example, the poll shows Simmons leading 50%-39% in the very Democratic 1st CD and, and, as even former Simmons campaign staffer Heath at CTLP admits:
Rob got plenty of Hartford-based exposure when he was in Congress, but there still is no way that when voters actually vote that Rob will be beating Dodd in the First. I would suspect at least a ten point spread in the other direction.
CONNECTICUT: It's still not good, but it's possible that Chris Dodd stopped the bleeding. He trails Rob Simmons by nine points in a new Quinnipiac poll. But his job rating has inched up a tad, and he's gained a bit among Dems. Remember, the state's so blue, Dodd can pull this off with just Dems and a few indies. Still, he has a LONG way to go.
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