Connecticut election commentary - "Prime Time Came, State Republicans Not Ready"

[George II]

Here is the Colin McEnroe (Liberal Democratic Hartford Courant columnist!) take on the CT election.......I love this guy, very humorous in a stinging way. He had a drive-time show on WTIC but was dumped in favor of conservative John Rowland, who is now destined for years in Federal prison.

Enjoy!

http://www.courant.com/opinion/op-ed/hc-op-mcenroe-connecticut-republicans-miss-their-chance-1109-20141107-column.html

November 7, 2014, 8:20 PM

I spent more than three hours on Election Night sitting next to Mark Boughton, the Republican mayor of Danbury, the 2010 running mate of Tom Foley and a candidate for this year's Republican gubernatorial nomination.

It was my idea to invite him to join our all-night WNPR coverage team. I didn't know Boughton, but from afar I had deduced that he is funny, energized by hiphop and plugged into pop culture. When 10 p.m. passed without our having called the election, I told him I would understand if he started his long drive home. Boughton said he would stay and, imitating Richard Gere in "Officer and a Gentleman," comically moaned, "I got no place else to go!"

This referred to Boughton's estrangement from nominee Tom Foley. They have exchanged sharp words, and he would not have been welcome at Foley's event.

(more....it gets better!)

[MANative]

1. I live in Danbury, and Boughton isn't a horrible guy.

He is personable and is well known for his sense of humor. He's not nut-job level conservative, but he is "redder" than I'd prefer. I agree with McEnroe's assertion that, as a more moderate voice, he would have been tougher for Malloy to beat, but Foley's massive piles of money were (far) too much to overcome in the primary.

Danbury is typically a pretty red city, so it was a big surprise when Malloy actually carried it by some 2000 votes. Dan isn't perfect, but he's a hell of a lot better than the alternatives. Republicans came away with absolutely nothing in this round. A very tiny bright spot in a very depressing landscape.

[George II]

2. A couple of things....

First, did Foley use his own money in the primary or was he state funded?

And, one analysis I read was that the people in your area were put off by two things about Foley - that he basically snubbed and fought with Boughton and with the close proximity to Newtown many people, Democratic and republican, supported Malloy's gun policy as opposed to Foley's gun policy.

The Hartford Courant had a map of how the towns voted in 2014 vs. 2010, and Malloy's increases were significant in that area.

Here's the link to that analysis and map. Very interesting.

http://courantblogs.com/investigative-reporting/how-we-knew-tom-foley-was-in-trouble-on-election-night/

[MANative]

3. My understanding is that he used a good chunk of his own money and...

had lots of truly "outside" contributors. He's beyond loaded. Not quite at Romney level, but not that far off.

I believe that the proximity to Newtown was a big factor. Those babies were brought to the hospital here in Danbury; I can see it from my living room window, and the school is about seven miles from my door. The gun issue was definitely a major topic of conversation in these parts and Foley seemed tone-deaf to it. Driving around, I know I saw far fewer Foley signs than last round. It's not that Malloy is loved, but Foley just couldn't generate the support because of his intransigent position on trying to repeal the gun law (which wouldn't have happened anyway, because Dems control the State House). Violent crime in this area has dramatically fallen since the law was enacted, and it's been noticed. As the map shows, Malloy did have substantial gains all throughout the surrounding area, many towns flipping from big losses in 2010 to respectable wins, and I believe that was the single biggest factor. When people tell you that a crime like the one in Newtown is a wound to the whole community, they really aren't kidding. I didn't know anyone personally connected, but I know it affected me greatly. It was horribly sad around here for months.

There are also some fairly large immigrant populations in and around Danbury, and they were not fans of Foley for a whole list of reasons.

[George II]

4. I just checked - this year he relied on the CEP* for both the Primary and the General Election...

..I think he did that because he knew there would be lots of money flowing into the state from the RNC and RGA due to the "Citizens United" decision. Although each candidate (Malloy and Foley) got about $6.5M from the state for their campaigns, I saw yesterday that more than $20M was spent on the campaign - the difference being "independent" spending by the state and national parties and PACs. As long as those didn't coordinate with the candidate committees they could spend as much as they wanted.

*Citizens Election Program, which is public funding.