The only mention I could find of last night's "conversation" between Malloy and DeStefano in Chester was in today's Stamford Advocate. I suppose it's a bit too early for most papers to be covering the governor's race.
The article portrays DeStefano as a more intense version of Malloy, but takes great pains to emphasize their similarities. An example:
Each man has spent the past decade running one of Connecticut's largest cities. Each has won re-election several times, easily defeating the opposition, when there was any. And each has a wife named Cathy. Well, almost. Dannel Malloy's spouse spells her name that way. John DeStefano's wife uses a "K."
...
...They agreed that Gov. M. Jodi Rell, whom they repeatedly linked to her disgraced predecessor, had no plan to change the tax system. Both said that job retention and growth depend heavily on improving transportation and education, where they again said Rell was not doing enough.
...
...Malloy, the Stamford mayor, and DeStefano, New Haven's mayor, took turns sharing similar visions for Connecticut's future. (Dalena)
There's been a lot of talk lately labelling DeStefano the "liberal" or "progressive" candidate and Malloy the "centrist" or "pro-business" candidate. Dalena, whose coverage of the Naugatuck mayoral race I found to be very insightful, doesn't draw this distinction at all. Some of the few differences he mentions:
DeStefano advocated investing in economic sectors where Connecticut already leads, such as fuel cell technology, pharmaceutical research, insurance and financial services. Malloy said he would align state spending on education toward areas that had the best chance of producing good jobs.
...
After Malloy said that if elected he would minimize the state's reliance on property taxes over the course of several legislative sessions and several years, DeStefano said he would not wait.
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Malloy said he would hire a diverse set of commissioners without regard to political party, while DeStefano said he would hire people unafraid to challenge him who were actually experts in their fields, not learning the job on the state's time. (Dalena)
...That's it? Those are the differences?
Okay, it's early. Okay, it was just a candidate forum, not a debate. But supposedly these two men have very different aims and appeal to very different constituencies within the Democratic Party (the Lieberman wing vs. the Dean wing). Why not stress that?
I'll listen to Colin McEnroe (who moderated) this afternoon to see if I can get a few more insights. I imagine that as the campaigns unfold, the differences will become sharper. ...Right?
Source
Dalena, Doug. "Tale of two mayors vying for top state post." Stamford Advocate 1 June, 2005.
6 comments:
As Blogmaster for DeStefano for CT, I try to make it to as many events like this as possible. (Also, they are fun. Think about attending the DFA Meetup in Torrington tonight).
I think the Stamford Advocate captured the tone of the event quite well. There wasn't a lot of focus on the differences between the two candidates and they both came off very well.
I wrote a little bit about my experiences of the candidates forum over on the DeStefano Blog, and I would encourage people read and comment on the entry there.
If you want to talk about much more detailed notes of the forum, feel free to contact me directly.
This is a little off topic, but when do you think we will know if Jodi Rell is running in 2006? If she decides to sit it out, does the GOP have anyone else? Given the impressive amount of money that all three Democrats have raised so far, she probably needs to jump in sooner rather than later.
Aldon,
Are any of these forums coming to Hartford County any time soon?
Ebpie,
A good question. I don't think she'll announce anything until the legislative session is over, and possibly a few months after that. She apparently likes to keep us guessing.
The GOP bench in Connecticut is very, very short. If Rell decides not to run, someone like House Minority Leader Robert Ward will probably jump in. Other than that, who knows? There are very few well-known Republicans in Connecticut who aren't in Congress.
Genghis,
I don't know of any candidates' forums scheduled for Hartford County at this point. However, I will note that the candidates' forum in Chester last night was organized by a bunch of concerned citizens and if some folks in the Hartford Area want to pull together a forum I would be glad do to what I can to help.
The Republican Bench:
There had been talk about Shays or Johnson possibly running for either Governor or Senator. I haven't heard much more about that recently. Also, Chris Burnham's name recently came up. I heard he was leaving the State Department and heading to the United Nations. Some people were talking about this being part of a move back to Connecticut to run for office.
(Unfortunately, I can't find the original source on this right now)
On the subject of the 2006 gubernatorial election, it seems like Rell will run. Since the legislative session she has worked hard to establish herself as a moderate Republican, trying to maintain fiscal discipline by holding spending, but bucking her party on issues like gay marriage, stem cell research, and the minimum wage. I wonder if she will have the money to go toe to toe with the Democrats. She certainly hasn’t won herself any friends on the right and the Democrats seem pretty intent on taking back the Governor’s mansion as demonstrated by the large amount of money already being raised. If Dodd and Blumenthal stay out of the race though and Destefano, Malloy and Bysiewicz tear each other apart in the primary she could squeeze by. 2006 promises to be an intense year in CT. The 2nd, 4th, and 5th district races are all have candidates in the field (Farrell hasn’t declared yet, but she will), Lieberman may have to fight off John Orman in a primary, and who knows what will happen with the Governor’s race.
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