Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Open Forum

Looks like John Rowland will be arrested again. More jail time? He'd be moved to a Connecticut jail while awaiting his trial on state charges. I hope it's Enfield: it would serve him right to have to spend time in that horrible place.

What else is happening today?

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, I didn't know Steny was a 5th District Democrat... I'm pretty sure that Paul Vance IS, however. Will he be there??

Anonymous said...

You don't have to be a 5th District Democrat. Only a Democrat who has a chance at being elected to congress. So no, Paul Vance won't be there.

Anonymous said...

Who picks our nominee--- Washington? "Influential 5th District Democrats"? or the voters of the towns?

Anonymous said...

tsk, tsk, tsk....

If that's the criteria, "only a Democrat who has a chance," then how does Murphy qualify? He's not an Avon resident, now, is he???

Anonymous said...

Steny's visit should be about beating Nancy Johnson, not supporting one Democrat over the other. Both Chris and Paul should be at the event. In fact, the honorable thing for Chris to do is to make sure that Paul is invited. The voters of the Fifth will choose their candidate for Congress, and whether it is Chris or Paul, such alienating actions and rhetoric among Democrats will leave our eventual Democratic nominee impetant versus a very well financed incumbent.

Anonymous said...

Hear, hear, Anonymous!

Genghis Conn said...

It may be worth noting that in his interview on this site, Chris Murphy said that he didn't think there would be a primary. Here's the exchange:

GC: You are running against at least one other person (Alderman Paul Vance of Waterbury) for the Democratic nomination. Why do you feel voters will support you in the primary?

CM: I actually don't see it that way. Paul and I are friends, representing the same city, and I believe we both have the same goal in mind - winning back the 5th district for our party. I don't plan on spending any energy running against anyone except Nancy Johnson (or whomever runs in her place should she decide not to run), and I at this point, I don't expect their to be a primary. I believe our party will get behind one candidate, sooner rather than later, so we can focus all of our energies where they must be - on winning back the 5th.

GC: If the party seems to be backing Paul, then, will you drop out?

CM: If the party seems to be backing either of us, I do think it would be wise for he and I to sit down and figure out how we can work together. That goes for both of us. Until then, I'm just keeping my eye on the ultimate goal (which is a tall enough mountain in and of itself!)

Anonymous said...

all the more reason for Paul and Chris to be side by side when Steny visits...

Anonymous said...

Genghis Conn,
Is Andrew Flieschmen going to do a Q and A on the connecticut local politics blog? It is presumable that since he is the front runner with the most money that a Q and A would be in his favor or is he going to be another Secretary of the State that has to go through his advisors for the answers to the voting public's questions?

Genghis Conn said...

Anonymous,

Not as far as I know. I offered, but his campaign doesn't seem to be interested at this time. I'll let you know if that changes.

Anonymous said...

RE: Murphy comments on primary.

Oh come on! That's BOILERPLATE "rhetoric 101" for any candidate looking to lay claim to the higher ground/stronger position in an intra-party contest. It's all part of the dance, so that primary voters/delegates won't get turned off by someone who sounds negative or divisive. Please....

This is a great, great, blog, partially because of the insight into the political game, so please don't resort to relying on words that just don't hold any weight.

Vance can speak for Vance. Murphy can speak for Murphy.

If Hoyer is cheerleading for Murphy, then they should both be honest about it. It's no surprise anyway.

Enjoying the discussion!

Genghis Conn said...

anonymous,

I've asked a lot of candidates this sort of question, and Murphy is the first one who hasn't either categorically stated that he would be running regardless or somehow entirely avoided the question. I found that interesting, and so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt for now.

Things could change as the race heats up, however.

Anonymous said...

DemGurl
the major difference that CT-05 has from CT-04 and CT-02 is that there are two announced Democratic Candidates in CT-05.

Aldon Hynes said...

Speaking as a Jeffersonian democrat and not as a big D Democrat, or in my role as DeStefano’s blog master, I have to say that I am a big fan of primaries. I think we need more of them. They force candidates to refine their skills and positions.

As an example, I believe that the contest between Mayor Malloy of Stamford and Mayor DeStefano of New Haven is good not only for Democrats as a whole and for each candidate, but also for the cities these mayors run. Mayor DeStefano has done some great stuff for New Haven, and I like seeing some of these ideas making it to Stamford.

Likewise, for the competition between Vance and Murphy, I have seen Paul Vance at events around the district. I think it is really important for candidates to get out, be seen and have good discussions with the voters. I want to see more voter participation, and I’m seeing Paul Vance encouraging this. I like his campaign because of this. I have yet to meet Chris Murphy, but many of my friends, whose political opinions I greatly respect speak very highly of him. I believe he would be a better candidate if he were more visible on the campaign trail.

As to Rep. Hoyer, he has every right to come campaign for whomever he chooses. From what I am reading, he is doing a campaign event for Chris Murphy. He has every right to do that and it simply serves to emphasis Murphy as the well connected Democrat versus Vance as the grassroots candidate. Will the voters of the fifth congressional district opt for old style well connected politics or new style grassroots politics? We shall see.

Meanwhile, I believe that Vance would do well to demonstrate more of his political connectedness and Murphy would do well to demonstrate greater grassroots support.

As always, my two cents.

Aldon Hynes said...

ebpie, the reason I didn't mention Secretary of State Bysiewicz is not because we don't view her as a real challenge. She is a formidable candidate with a lot to offer.

Instead, I didn't mention her because she has not engaged in the give and take in a visible manner the way Mayor DeStefano and Mayor Malloy have.

Aldon Hynes said...

On a different front, I have just posted this blog post over on the DeStefano blog. No matter who we are supporting for Governor, or in any of the other races, we should all come together to help with relief efforts underway for Hurricane Katrina.

I posted links to articles in the local press about people who are already involved and how you can become more involved. As Mayor DeStefano frequently says, "We are at our best when we are working together". I hope we can all work together to help with the relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina.

Genghis Conn said...

Good call, Aldon.

Anonymous said...

As a former Murphy opponent, I have to say that he does honestly speak his mind. He is very upfront and frank with people when you ask a direct question. Just beware about the behind the scenes, though. He knows how to play the game, and is an extremely skillfull campaign strategist. Vance has his work cut out for him, but from what I've seen will need to open up a bit and come forward on the issues that are core to the district. From what I hear, Vance should have good soil to plant his grassroots.

I like a good primary as Waterbury Democratic mayor's race. For the Democratic Gubernatorial race- I want to hear more from Malloy. I'm waiting for Rell and Blumenthal to run together though. Are their hips joined yet?