Jodi Rell

It had been the topic of lots of rumors in CT political circles over the past few weeks, but at 5pm tonight Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell ended the speculation.

She will not seek re-election in 2010

Needless to say, there's a lot of speculation now as to the proximate cause. Rell's incredibly positive image took a hit over the summer due to the state budget crisis; her effort to force fiscal conservatism resulted in a state budget agreement she expressed little enthusiasm for. It's hard to be a moderate Republican and stay popular when you have to tell a ravenous liberal legislature the cupboard is bare.

I think the bigger reason is Rell is a 63 year old woman with a chronically ill husband.  Can't fault that as a reason for retirement.

This of course shuffles the deck for the 2010 election with Rell's Lieutenant Governor, Mike Fedele, seeking to run as the GOP candidate. Other possiblities are State Senate Minority Leader John McKinney and State House Minority Leader Larry Cafero.  None of them are household names, which has led some to wonder if Senate candidate Rob Simmons might be lobbied to change races.

As for the Democrats, the most notorious candidate is 2006 Senate candidate Ned Lamont.  No word if that causes Joe Lieberman to endorse a Republican. Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy and Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz have been running for months, but might be eclipsed by the Lamont entry.

The Democrats haven;t won an election for Governor in CT since 1986. Their chances of breaking the streak improved tonight.    

Since I certainly couldn;t picture my Governor. Jodi Rell involved in anything less than proper.

Now, could I picture NJ's Jon Corzine being "Client # 10? . Sure. Sure I could.

Sadly, this would backfire on the GOP since it would give the DNC a chance to execute the well-traveled path of doing the "Torricelli Switch" and swapping out relatively popular State Senate President Richard Codey, who would stand a far better chance of defeating Republican Chris Christie..

Don't change this channel!

Is there some concern Senator Dodd isn't going to make it to the 2010 election?

We can't let a Republican Governor have the right of appointment, now can we? Shades of the effort to strip then MA Governor Mitt Romney of the right to fill what would have been the vacant John Kerry seat in 2004 I say. 

In any event, Chris Dodd is going to start spending his campaign warchest tonight. The cash he's sucked in from pawnshop lenders and oil speculators is going to be used on a TV ad blitz starting tonight.

Last incumbent I remember running TV ads in the spring of the year prior to the election was Tom Daschle. We know how that turned out.

Maybe that irish cottage is looking better and better for Chris.

Stamford CT Mayor Dan Malloy fancies himself a "New Democrat" who is fiscally  responsible and concerned with economic growth.

Of course, when Fox News's Steve Doocy tracked him down, Mayor Malloy's major initiative was to use the federal stimulus money to cover the city in new astroturf fields. 

Yeah, that was what is was going to take to get ourselves out of the depression. Astroturf.

$15 million worth.

So where does Mayor Malloy spend the city's own money?

Not on police protection!

23 officers in Stamford laid off

Stamford (WTNH) - Negotiations between the city of Stamford and the Stamford Police Association (SPA) broke down tonight and that means 23 police officers will be off the beat.

What's even more ironic about this is Malloy's own son is a recidivist criminal.

The old saying applies here. Don;t watch what Democrats say;  watch what they do.

Anyway, with incumbent Republican Jodi Rell @ 72% job approval Malloy might as well go to the artifical "field of dreams" as for his chances to unseat the Governor.

Part of the gloomin and doomin these days is anticipating how bad things will be should Obama win and we lose more ground in Congress.

Well, if the GOP Congress behaves like the feckless zombies who squandered their majority in 2006, well we have a problem. But frankly, on a host of issues (border security; ANWR drilling; the death tax) that crowd threw a few bones to the base, and made like lap dogs to the "loyal opposition" and whoever wandered in off K Street to cajole them.

Better to have a handful of pit bulls than a kennel of lap dogs.  Welcome to the CT legislature, which is 2/1 Democratic.

In the wake of the '06 election there were heady times where huge spending programs were to be insituted, health care offered to all, and the rich duly soaked. Didn;t happen. One reason is the Democrats were split and had weak leadership. But even when Governor Jodi Rell started gettin wobbly about biprtisanship,there were the GOP legislators--particuarly the "Fighting 44" in the lower house.

In '07 they offered a "no tax increase" budget  when the Governor and the Democrats wer e floating tak hike trial balloons. While the spending level proved unsustainable, the GOP did limit the damage and prevent added revenue from fueling the economic fire in Hartford. They accomplished this by standing their ground, going to the microphones, and refusing to become marginalized. 

This year, they proposed freezing the scheduled increase in gasoline taxes. For months this was deemed grandstanding and inrresponsible. However, the GOP caucus in CT knew that @$4.25/gallon it was no time to tack on yet another 4 cents.  The lobbyists and the media were on one side; the drivers on the other.

Give this round to Joe Sixpack.  Would not have happened if the GOP legislators played the happy bipartisan game and hid in the tall grass hoping to avoid getting the voters attention on this one.http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2008/06/rell-willing-to-postpone-gas-t.html

We've had the worst of both worlds of late in DC---our party is accused of being right wing zealots and even worse, they are utter failures doing even that. The CT model is how to proceed. Not name calling or gimmicks. Just find a spot where the voters have your back and stand your ground.