Winchester Dems Back Bysiewicz

Isn't it a little early for this?

Secretary of the State and 2006 Connecticut gubernatorial candidate Susan Bysiewicz joined secretary of the state candidate Audrey Blondin at the Winchester Democratic Town Committee Tuesday night.

The two received support from and spoke before the committee at the Winsted town hall to solidify their base in preparation for next year’s political campaign. The committee unanimously voted to lend their support to both candidates. (Strauss)

Bysiewicz is a bit behind DeStefano in the money race, but she's apparently already locking up the support of town committees. It seems a bit premature for the DTCs to formally back any of the candidates at this point in the cycle... but hey, Winchester can do what it wants.

Bysiewicz offered a few specifics on what she'd do as governor:

Bysiewicz spoke of her desire to ban no-bid state contracts, describing briefly her backing of legislation that would ban such contracts for projects of over $500,000. She also lauded her own office’s fiscal responsibility, urging the need for fiscal responsibility in a state that is looking at a $1 billion deficit and job losses.

"We’ve lost 64,000 jobs in this state," Bysiewicz said.

As a means of creating jobs while healing the sick, she endorsed stem cell research, saying that Connecticut is an ideal place for research in the field, due to the reputation of its universities and hospitals.

"Here in Connecticut, 18,000 people are employed in that field," she said. "We could triple the number of jobs in that area." (Strauss)

She's offering pretty vague stuff, but it's all very likable. It's still difficult to pin her down on the ideological spectrum, mostly because she's been quite good at avoiding specifics. She seems to be running more on her own charm and sincerity than on a clear and detailed platform, in contrast to rival John DeStefano, who has staked out a very well-defined patch of political ground by releasing weighty policy statements.

If this keeps up, the debate is going to look something like this:

DeSTEFANO: ...And that is my 58-point plan for fixing DCF. As you can see, not only will it fix all the problems with the system, but it won't cost us a dime and will turn downtown Hartford into a lemon-scented paradise.
(*crickets chirping*)
BYSIEWICZ: I like voting. I also like kittens. (smiles)
(*wild applause*)

Source
Strauss, Karsten. " Secretary of state in Winsted." Torrington Register-Citizen 27 April, 2005.