Pelosi Storms CT
All Pelosi Politics Is Personal
By California Yankee Posted in 2006 — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
A big indication of what worries the Democrats can be seen in the desperate move sending the divisive queen of the left wing Nancy Pelosi, already anointed Speaker by the biased media wing of the Democratic party, to campaign in Connecticut.
Read on.
The Hartford Courant, which like the New York Times has endorsed a completely Democratic Congressional delegation for Connecticut, reports on the San Franciscan liberal's weekend barnstorming for her liberal anti-war followers:
For Nancy Pelosi, all politics is personal.
The California Democrat is poised to become the next speaker if her party wins control of Congress Tuesday. And that explains why she came to Connecticut Sunday to rally supporters of Democratic congressional challengers Chris Murphy, Joe Courtney and Diane Farrell. The state is a key battleground, and polls show that all three races are too close to call.
"We need ... 15 seats to win back the House," Pelosi told a group of Courtney backers at the candidate's headquarters in Colchester. "Connecticut can lead the way [and] supply one-fifth of what we need."
Connecticut Republicans view Pelosi as a divisive figure and said they were thrilled that she decided to visit the state.
State GOP Chairman George D. Gallo e-mailed this reaction to Pelosi's invasion:
In these close races in Connecticut, there are few things that motivate Republicans and independents more to vote for our candidates than the thought of Nancy Pelosi being two heartbeats from the presidency.
The race for all three of Connecticut's Republican Congressional Representatives is very close. So close it will come down to which party runs the best get out the vote effort. The Republicans will be helped by the extremely popular Republican Governor Jodi Rell heading the ticket. More help comes from Senator Lieberman's Independent comeback against the Democrat's anti-war poster boy Lamont. The Senate race will spur more Republicans to turn out.
Lieberman's Independent run also hurts Connecticut Democrats' GOTV effort. The Democrats usually count on Lieberman to raise several hundred thousand dollars to fund its GOTV operation, but not this year. After pouring more than $14 million of his family fortune on his own campaign, Lamont has not stepped up to fill the void. Many of the unions, upon which the Democratic GOTV operations depend, are too busy helping Lieberman.
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Pelosi Storms CT 3 Comments (0 topical, 3 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
I live in the Hartford area and follow this stuff really closely. My sense continues to be that Simmons is in the best shape of the three, but that all three are vulnerable. Pelosi's visit went almost unnoticed in the non-stop (predominantly negative) advertising blitz that all candidates are running. Shays and Johnson are definitely in trouble. Hard for me to see how Shays wins. Johnson, who has had tough races before, may not survive. Simmons is in Gedjenson's former seat. Sam won twice by less than 100 votes - always a tight district. But he helped save the New London sub base and I think that makes the difference in the end.
The Rell at the top of the ticket theory is, I think, overrated. She has been so far ahead it has almost been as if there has been no campaign at all - her opponent is almost invisible (they had a razor's edge Dem primary).
Hard to say how Lieberman plays into this, if at all. My sense is that people look at Pretty Boy Lamont as the summer's "Flavor of the Month". Lieberman took charge of that race the night he lost the primary with a powerful "the race starts now" speech, and has never looked back. Most Republicans, and virtually all Movement Conservatives are voting for Joe - and he is "Mr Independent" in a state in which registered independents make up around 30% of the electorate.
My hope is that a furious finishing kick and GOTV effort will help push Johnson over the line. It is important nationally that we take two of these three - and bad news if we don't. Bush's negatives here are quite high and, situated between NY and Boston, it is located right in "Drive By Media Central". I am going to help the Johnson GOTV effort the next two days. Hope you all do the same in your areas.
Doing all I can...I'm pretty negative...Whatever the outcome, it could be one of those races decided by 15 votes.
gets out the GOP vote in the CT house districts.