A roller-coaster recount that stretched nearly a week and uncovered significant vote-counting flaws in at least three communities came to an end Tuesday night, confirming Courtney's general election victory over Rep. Rob Simmons.
Recounts in each of the district's 65 towns gave Courtney the nod, although his election-night margin of 167 votes narrowed to 91, according to results tabulated by town clerks and reported to The Associated Press. Nearly 250,000 votes were cast.
Rob Simmons is planning a press conference for tomorrow. No word on whether he's conceding.
Source
"Recount gives Courtney win in 2nd District." Associated Press 14 November, 2006.
23 comments:
Simmons is a decent guy and will concede tomorrow. Perhaps there's a spot for him in the Rell Adminstration.
Any doubts about how important GOTV is should be dispelled by this. Doubtless, Simmons people are regretting the one fewer phone call they might have made. Congratulations Joe. A very deserving Congressman.
Joe Courtney is our new congressperson. Thank you Mr. Courtney for standing up for change. Let the George Bush lameduck era begin. Time for the dems to guide America into a new and more hopeful direction.
And for phony Lieberman he is just a sad excuse for a human being. A say anything politician that only Karl Rove/George Bush could help create.
Damn this district is exciting! Talk about a true "purple" district.
Simmons will be back in two years to run again-- he has earned that right with this close election.
Both candidates are good men, with different views on issues. I certainly hope we see a rematch in 2008.
You are absolutely right - both candidates are good men and as a resident of the 2nd district I truly believe we are capably represented by either gentleman. I do wonder, however, whether Simmons' negative ads cost him votes as they clearly did in the Johnson/Murphy match. Although I ultimately voted for Simmons, I was very tired of the robo calls on behalf of Simmons and the negative way he used photos of Courtney, who is a really nice person and a really intelligent person. The negative tone of Simmons' ads came very close to pushing me over to the Courtney camp.
The gotv efforts in Enfield, Vernon, and the Uconn campus were the primary reason Joe won.
The young voters in these areas stepped up to the plate by working on the Lamont/Courtney campaigns and voting democratic.
Agreed-- I think that Chris Shay's victory and Johnson and Simmon's losses show that CT voters have had it with negative campaigning.
A little negative campaigning is good to define your opponent. A lot of negative campaigning makes you nasty.
Both the 5th and the 2nd will be competitive in 2008....Shays is safe after being the "CT Survivor"
Both the 5th and the 2nd will be competitive in 2008....Shays is safe after being the "CT Survivor"
I would say that Courtney will probably have tougher time than Murphy next time. It obviously depends on who the Republicans get to run in each district. However, Johnson had been there forever, while Simmons had only been in congress three terms. Murphy is also probably a bit more solid of a candidate than Courtney. Plus, of course, Murphy won convincingly, while Courtney did not. Is there anyone from the R side in either district that could mount a good challenge next time? I can't think of anyone in particular, and the Republicans in this state really have a poor bench, don't they.
I can't imagine anyone in the 5th who Chris wouldn't stomp. Caligiuri is the worst kind of politician and a wholesome young man like Chris would annihilate him.
I don't know who could run in the 2nd. If Simmons won, I thought Melissa Olson might've been a candidate soon, but I'm not sure who is up and coming on the R side.
"Thank you Mr. Courtney for standing up for change."
Right... A party hack who votes for more taxes, just what we needed.
Simmons was ousted because he had an (R) next to his name.
A shame as he is one of the few good reps handling the states business I have ever seen.
"Caligiuri is the worst kind of politician and a wholesome young man like Chris would annihilate him."
You idiots tried to smear Sam and had your tukkus handed to you.
Let's see how wholesome young Chris defends the new culture of corruption in DC with incoming Abscam co-conspirator Jack Murtha as Majority Leader because his MOVEON allies demand it.
Simmons will run again in the 2nd in two years.
In the 5th, it is a bit laughable to think Murphy is some kind of political titan. He ran an ok race, and Nancy was swept away by national trend and her own negativity.
Rorabach, Capiello, Caliguiri, Boughton-- the Republicans actually have a pretty deep bench of talent with almost exactly the same talent and background as Murphy. As long as the Rs can stick together and not primary, the 5th will be comeptitive as well.
Totally agreed about Murphy, he did ran a decent campaign, but Johnson destroyed herself.
It's odd how we use victory margins as a justification for monolithic judgements about whether to canonize a politician or bury them in the dirt, as if no other variables ever come into play. If anything Joe Courtney is the better candidate than Chris Murphy, because Simmons ran a much better, much less nasty campaign than Johnson, and had considerably more support and respect outside his party than Nancy did.
However, one thing is crystal clear, Courtney's victory would not have been possible without Ned Lamont; in my hometown of Mansfield, the town that won it for Courtney, Lamont beat Lieberman 62% to 31% (a higher margin than Rell's victory over DeStefano statewide) and that's not withstanding another 1.5% for Green Party candidate Ralph Ferrucci (Green candidate Cliff Thornton, meanwhile, got well over 4% in the Governor's race - so I guess at least I know my four hours plus of pollstanding in Mansfield for Lamont and Thornton helped push things in the right direction as far as the people who voted in my own precinct).
"a wholesome young man like Chris would annihilate him."
Can people who obviously know nothing about Mr. Murphy stop posting garbage like this? Nobody who truly knows Murphy could possibly describe him as "wholesome" with a straight face.
Shadow's got it right. Lamont $15 million ad campaign contributed greatly to the Johnson/Simmons loss. Plus, NJ was torpedoed by the $500K spent by MoveOn.org early in the campaign. Murphy may try to project a wholesome image, but he is a career politician who votes with the party bosses 97 percent of the time. If he perpetuates the myth, he wins. If the GOP pierces the veil, he loses. It's that simple.
Now that the Dems hold just about every seat known to man in this state, I would think we will be living in a utopian society very soon. I hope the cost of living goes down, everyone has healthcare...the poor are eliminated (they will become self sufficient), business will flock here. People love paying taxes so we can do more of that.
I mean there really is no excuse now for the direction of this state. None!!! You can't blame Rell because you can override any veto. Your Washington representatives and state officers are all liberal, and Shays is a moderate so he really doesn't count.
All I here is that Bush is stupid so it should be easy to have our way with him. Results, no complaints!!! I look forward to a great life the next two years.
Shadow is correct in defining the way we project images of our politicians.
The Courtney- Simmons race was hard fought on both sides. I would be surprised if Simmons didn't run again in 2 years. Courtney will need to work diligently in the House to keep his seat.
The baseless character asassination of Chris Murphy just makes me laugh. I think we just witnessed first-hand how poorly this stategy works.
To see it propigated over and over on this site leads me to believe the people who post blanket derogatory remarks lack specific information to back them up, rendering them inept.
Top N Center -
I know the feeling. I light a candle to renew my red state faith tonight. All Republicans should join me. We know god is on our side, keep the faith.
Big red-feeling-blue -
I always get a kick out of anyone stating that "God is on our side" when it comes to politics. It's especially funny coming from Republicans, since it was one off their own who reminded us that "The Almighty has His own purposes."
It's not if God is on our side...it's if we are on His side.
My comments should be taken more in jest. I am merely airing my distress to the disgusting amount of blue around Connecticut. I think we should change the background of the flag actually.
At least you're not suggesting we should pee in the ocean.
...Every little bit helps. :)
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