Thursday, November 09, 2006

General Assembly 2006: Watch List Final Update - Senate

So how did the candidates on the "Watch List" do? Let's take a look. I'll have the state House of Representatives out this afternoon.

State Senate

Senate District 7 - East Granby, Enfield, Granby, Somers, Suffield, Windsor (part), Windsor Locks

Sen. John Kissel (R) defeated Bill Kiner (D) 53%-47%. Kissel increased his margin from 2004.

Senate District 8 - Avon, Barkhamsted, Canton, Colebrook, Granby (part), Hartland, Harwinton (part), New Hartford, Norfolk, Simsbury, Torrington (part)

Sen. Tom Herlihy (R) narrowly defeated Steve Berry (D) by only a few hundred votes (50.5%-49.5%). This is a surprisingly close result in a traditionally Republican district.

Senate District 16 - Cheshire (part), Southington, Waterbury (part), Wolcott

This was probably the most-watched Senate race in the state. Caliguiri (R) trounced Zoni (D) 55%-45%. GOP PICKUP.

Senate District 18 - Griswold, Groton, N. Stonington, Plainfield, Preston, Sterling, Stonington, Voluntown

Andy Maynard (D) defeated Lenny Winkler (R) 51%-49%. DEM PICKUP.

Senate District 20 - East Lyme, Montville (part), New London, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook (part), Salem, Waterford

Sen. Andrea Stillman (D) annihilated Chris Oliveira (R) 61%-39%.

Senate District 21 - Monroe (part), Seymour (part), Shelton, Stratford (part)

Dan Debicella (R) defeated Chris Jones (D) 52%-48%.

Senate District 22 - Bridgeport (part), Monroe, Trumbull (part)

Sen. Bill Finch (D) held on against Robert Russo (R) 54%-46%.

Senate District 31 - Bristol, Harwinton (part), Plainville, Plymouth

Sen. Tom Colapietro (D) defeated Beverly Bobroske (R) 59%-41%.

Democrats and Republicans traded a seat, sothe balance of power remains the same (24 D, 12 R). Paul Doyle (D-9th District) will be the other newcomer (along with Maynard, Debicella and Caliguiri) to the Senate after winning Sen. Ciotto's old seat.

Another newcomer will be Lt. Governor Michael Fedele, who will preside.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Republicans would like us to beleive that their loss in the statehouse was an overflow from the antional sentiment that brought about the loss in the Congress. With Rell winning, Shays winning and even Simmons coming close not to mention the Republican candidate for US Senator (joe) winning that just doesn't fly when you look at where the state legislative losses were.

Anonymous said...

http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=cdfb5fc8-cea6-484a-8c18-c6943cda4ba6

Utopia Studios is another Marc Ryan/Jim Amman deal done badly -

Anonymous said...

Has GOP Sate Central Political Director, JR Romanno, turned in his reignation yet? Word has it Gallo has some decent job offers to move on and let's hope he does.

Anonymous said...

I hope JR Romano does resign...

Anonymous said...

the only races the ct gop(gallo) won were the two races where their input was disregarded: rell and shays.

Anonymous said...

Time for everyone to pile on GOP state central. We'll see who Rell picks to sort through this mess and hopefully start re-building. How about Nancy Johnson as party chairman?

Anonymous said...

Senate Republicans actually held up pretty well in the face of the onslaught. They didn't lose any seats, despite the fact that CT and the nation went extremely democratic.

They also got some new blood in their caucus in Dibicella and Caliguiri-- they need it!

Anonymous said...

Gallo's winning record is based on one fact....he's generally faced off against Roy Ochiogrosso. Makes it a little too easy

Anonymous said...

You guys make me laugh, you want to blame the State Gop,

The State GOP doesn't run any of these races, they don;t set policy or control anything at all

If you want to critizes lets look at what happend across the country. Dems won everywhere... in all of the GOP targets CT managed to hold onto shays and simmons is in a recount, in a climate where republicans nationwide got destroyed, you want to blame Gallo and his staff...come on.

The one arena that the GOP controls is the municiple cycles. That is the only time it is the DEM State Central Vs The State GOP and over the last 2 cycles the GOP is plus 15...

The loses across the state have notihng to do with Gallo, it has has more to do with the weak house and senate leadership and Gov Rell didn't do anything either...

Anonymous said...

Could someone please give a rundown of the campaigns that Roy Ochiogrosso/Global Strategies has run and the results. Is it really as bad a record as it seems?

Anonymous said...

Anon. 5:17 - Who cares about wins and losses?

Remember the movie Trading Places with Eddie Murphy. The old men try to teach Ediie Murphy about trading stocks and one says something like, "and the best part is, whether our clients make money or lose money, we still make money." Murphy replies, "You are all bookies."

Well, that's Roy O and his ilk. Whether his candidates win or lose, Roy still makes a lot of money. A lot of money!

If people want to keep hiring him, more power to him.

BTW, Lieberman hired him just to keep him away from Lamont.

Anonymous said...

Dick Foley dominated...again

Anonymous said...

GC,

In all fairness to an assortment of above average GOP state House and Senate candidates, how exactly are you supposed to win in a year like this? 2004 was bad enough for us, but in this climate the state's unaffiliated voters (most of whom do not know just how badly out of whack our state legislature is) veered understandably to the left in reaction to national concerns. Particularly in CDs 2 and 4, if you were in a state legislative district that your incumbent congressman or woman couldn't carry, how can you be expected to singlehandedly reverse that trend?

I'd posit (and I'm still chewing on the numbers) that the nationalization of the races was worth a minimum of 10 points to each and every Democrat in the state (except maybe DeStefano - poor bastard). In that climate even a credible challenger quickly becomes dogmeat.

Let's get ourselves a year without GWB at the helm, return to a (relatively) level playing field in this already blue tilted state and then see how GOP candidates do.

Until then, give credit (and blame) where credit is due and go easy on some of us poor star crossed buggers.

Oh, and I'm not offering excuses - merely an explanation. If you'd like to continue this conversation over coffee (or in a group as part of a forum...) I'd be happy to share more of my thoughts. ;)

Anonymous said...

Look at the 8th Sd and think about the fact that an incumbent with that time in was nearly whipped by a neophyte with virtually no money, virtually all of Berry'swas from in the district. Herlihy had very shallow support. Believe me the 8th SD committee will reorganize and the next cycle will be even more competitive and interesting. Name awareness was the major hurdle for Berry in this race. This cycle fixed that. SEnate leaders will push hard in this area and a Dem can prevail. The challenger was seen picking up signson the 9th but not throwing them out

Anonymous said...

anonymous....you are clueless when it comes to jr romano!!! knock it off