AG Richard Blumenthal
Look of a Tough Week
Photo by Steve Kotchko
Posted 5/26/10
Back in the old days (i.e. when this reporter began his journalism career), state party conventions in Connecticut amounted to midsummer madness, with nomination fights carried out in the steamy confines of Hartford’s Bushnell theater. You could witness everything from legendary Democratic party boss John Bailey walking senior citizen delegates up to the stage hand-in-hand, so they could change their votes to prevent a primary. You could smile at the equally legendary Republican. Clark Hull singing and otherwise entertaining bored delegates while GOP bigwigs dickered over the state ticket backstage. Bailey’s vote-changing stunt didn’t work, but the delegates loved Hull so much—they gave him the lieutenant governor nomination!
These days, thanks to new campaign reform laws, state party conventions are held in May at places such as the expansive (and taxpayer-financed) Hartford Convention Center, where blue-shirted “enforcers”, aka guides, won’t let you bring in your own coffee or food. Welcome to Hartford.
In the old days state conventions were staged on successive weekends. Now they’re scheduled the same weekend, forcing media organizations to stretch their already thin ranks for coverage, though, as one reporter put it: “At least this only ruins one weekend.”
This year’s conventions, staged just two miles apart in Hartford, May 21 and 22, turned into multi-candidate competitions in almost every race. When the conventions ended, there was at least the potential for nine primaries for statewide office. Since then, some candidates who reached the primary threshold in support (15% of the total delegates) have decided not to follow through.
In the past, primaries were less frequent because the threshold was tougher, at 20% of delegate support, and because the overall ticket composition often was viewed as an assignment for party leaders. At times, Democratic and Republican bigwigs tried to craft tickets that achieved ethnic, religious, and geographic balance. The premise was, have someone on the slate to satisfy every demographic in the population and you could entice voters to cast a ballot for the entire ticket.
This season’s party conventions may be slicker than past gatherings, but they still produced their own brands of weirdness.
After winning the U.S. Senate nomination at the Democratic convention, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal was whisked to a waiting SUV by his entourage, refusing to stop and take reporters’ questions, prompting yours truly to ask: “Dick when was the last time you ran away from a microphone or camera?” Admittedly, Blumenthal had had a bad week after New York Times revelations that he misspoke about his military service record. But we’re talking about Connecticut’s most accomplished media magnet. Blumenthal’s aide said the boss didn’t have time for questions because “he has to get to a party.” Uh-huh.
Over at the Republican convention, in a dark and cavernous ballroom that looked more like the Defense Department’s NORAD headquarters than a political party venue, the opening night session was a study in contrasts. There was a farewell speech from the GOP’s “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms”, retiring Gov. Jodi Rell, and the new GOP U.S. Senate contender Linda McMahon, Greenwich millionaire and former top exec at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Talk about your yin and yang!
The Democrats gave their convention endorsement for governor to former Stamford mayor Dannel Malloy, who bested challenger Ned Lamont by a two-to-one margin. Lamont, the Greenwich millionaire who went after Sen. Joe Lieberman back in 2006, nevertheless maintained his peppy cheerleader persona (“Thanks everybody”) and vowed to primary.
Meanwhile, the state GOP’s gubernatorial battle was a multi-candidate tilt including Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele, former congressman Lawrence DeNardis, businessman Oz Griebel, and former ambassador Tom Foley, a Greenwich millionaire (do we sense a trend?)
Fedele and company told reporters they were confident of a first ballot victory. That didn’t happen. Of course, Fedele’s the guy who told reporters, minutes after Rell announced her retirement, that she would endorse him. That didn’t happen either.
Instead, Foley notched a first ballot win for the gubernatorial endorsement, leaving Fedele and Griebel to ponder a primary fight.
Primary day (for qualifiers who decide to wage one) is August 10, allowing the potential for some old-fashioned midsummer madness after all.