I’ve met a boatload of folks in politics and I can say definitively that most, put in the same shoes as Tom Foley, would have challenged Tuesday’s election results. Their egos would have dictated court pursuit. Foley, in a classy move, took his ego out of the game. A court challenge, he announced, didn’t add up.
When you run for public office you enter the risk business. It’s rare that you experience instant gratification. A knucklehead like me has nothing better to do than size up the possible matchups. Elections are like boxing matches. Mike Tyson blows everyone away, but put him against a boxer with a stiff left jab (paging Buster Douglas, paging Evander Holyfield) and it’s a different story.
A few months before the August primaries I met with leading GOP operatives of the Foley campaign at Testo’s Restaurant, owned by Democratic Town Chair Mario Testa. It seemed like a reasonable place to meet given Bridgeport’s potential influence in both the primary and general elections.
They wanted my take on the respective primaries and I of course wanted their point of view, trap shut until the races were settled in November. They were up front with their perspective. They wanted to face Ned Lamont in the general election. Lamont, they felt, they’d defeat easily. They saw it the same way I did, Lamont, irrespective of his fortune, his short-lived national fame defeating Joe Lieberman in a 2006 Democratic primary on the one-issue war vote, losing to Joe in the general election, was not as strong in a general election as former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy. We agreed Malloy was sharper, stronger on message, able to connect with general election voters in a way that escaped Ned.
Ned Lamont is smart, a good person, he fought the good fight against Lieberman (I voted for him in both the 2006 primary and general election) but (as I wrote here often) he had a Republican message in a Democratic primary (I’m a businessman, I created jobs, vote for me) and his political handlers made the mistake of looking past the primary. Lamont spent $10 million, campaign consultants earned a small fortune giving him crappy advice. They actually thought all of Ned’s money (less the emotional war issue from 2006) would inspire more Dems to the pols in August. The strategy failed miserably. Malloy croaked him by 16 points.
When Foley’s operatives learned they were facing Malloy and not Lamont, they knew the game was on. Polls showed in the last week a race a few points either way. It was closer. How fragile was this general election? More than one million votes were cast one week ago and the race came down to the votes finally recorded–albeit under bizarre circumstances–in the state’s largest city.
No, you can’t make this stuff up.
Classy move by Mr. Foley … Congrats to Gov Malloy … in a time where America leaned Republican CT went Dem!!!
While some people think yesterday was the last day of Foley’s campaign for Governor, others think it was the first day of his campaign for Senator.
Chris Shays sure did take a “shellacking” in this election. No one could disagree with that!
Let the Good Himes Roll … And he did!!!
Keep it up Eyes, this is a logical point made by someone I thought was going blind. Linda made it clear on election night she may be coming back. My logic tells me if she does, it’s not going to be to run for City Council. Watch out Lieberman!
Although voting in Bridgeport circa 2010 was a disaster it also saw the electoral thrashing that accompanies new voters and the patterns they create.
However, Susan Bysiewicz is an administrator and not a babysitter. Things would’ve been worse without her. In politics, every nightmare has a sequel and SuBy prevented that from happening.
Local Eyes // Nov 6, 2010 at 7:38 am
Joel
You belittle Susan Bysiewicz by calling her SuBy and constantly force your way into the conversation, frequently by asking questions.
Let me return the favor by offering you a t-shirt that uniquely captures your inner spirit:
rlv.zcache.com/i_am_a_jerk_tshirt-p235366476981179273qjds_210.jpg
Did you write”SuBy?” If you were standing here, I’d be “forced” to put on those two boxing gloves and give you two Black Local Eyes for being such a hypocrite.
Now go order a shirt for yourself.
I am deeply saddened by Tom Foley’s decision not to challenge the horrendous improprieties of this past gubernatorial election. I support his decision because the fundamental basis is clear. There are too little financial resources in the Foley camp to expend. As an attorney with little constitutional experience I, nonetheless, am certain that the election would have been overturned and that decision would have been sustained on appeal. Too many people left in abject frustration that may have affected the vote and certainly would have brought the margin to within the 2000 votes test requiring recount. Perhaps Foley is mindful of the expenditure of political capital by your Christopher Caruso when he crankily challenged the Finch victory in the past primary. Caruso damaged himself badly; so much so that should a brighter penny emerge next time, Caruso will lose. Foley does not want that to happen to him. A good move on his part … I think. 2012 against SuBy for Lieberman’s seat is highly plausible and favors Foley. Of course, the good Senator Lieberman may have different ideas. I think I agree that Foley helped that quest by not going to the courts.
Now what? You have Malloy. A consummate political hack who will not serve you well and will further diminish your reputation as unbusiness friendly. The ties to the Bridgeport machine are transparent. It seems credible that Malloy would acquiesce to that Stamford/Bridgeport machine and offer Mr. Caruso a six-figure salary doing God knows what. Eliminating Caruso from the upcoming Democratic fracas in Bridgeport would be attractive to those who have held your town stagnant for the past 40 years.
I think it better to name this site ONLY IN CONNECTICUT.
Stone Barrington:
OIB has a strict NO TEARS policy that applies to all bloggers who post from out of state. If you want to get “deeply saddened” keep your tears in your own state or suffer the consequences of Connecticut’s out-of-state blog tax.
Stone Barrington: What Foley probably understands that you do not is that 90% of people who may have left in disgust not having cast their ballots would have, given the opportunity, cast their ballots for Malloy, who won Bridgeport by an enormous margin.
Bye-Bye SuBy! Stick a fork in her, she is done!!!
Gossip of The Rialto!
Hail to the Chef!!!
New Oliver Stone conspiracy movie script being written.
Caruso will broker a deal that gives Finch a deputy-dog job at DEP. This will return Bill to his Green Genes that propelled him in his early years as an environmentalist. Finch will step down before 12/30 making TMac acting mayor and forcing a special election which would pretty much guarantee Caruso a victory in a special. Bill balks and says he wants 2 paychecks until he is sworn in as the Commish. Caruso says he wants Elections Enforcement job and the 4-year kicker towards his state pension. Then he will come back and run a campaign based on a haunted house of corruption taking his pension coupled with mayoral job to cash out his life of public service.
Mario is in his cups and saucers saying “do the math!”
Politics sure does make for strange bedfellows.
*** Class act on Foley’s part not to challenge the overall election & save taxpayers’ money. Seems most voters who walked away per some poll workers were Dems. not Republicans! The mixup in the ballots ordered, sending to wrong polling places or lack of enough @ certain polls, was made by both Republican & Dem. election ROV’s, staff & poll workers, etc. The election is a wrap, done and time to move on with the experience of a ballot fiasco & enough finger-pointing to last a lifetime. Over all in the nation, Republicans did well after a 2-year spanking by the Dems so lets see what transforms for the sake of the taxpayers if anything! Can there be a working bipartisan government in Washington DC or just more of the same “talk is cheap politics”? *** Time will tell. ***
The Oracle of Omaha Steaks!
These Bridgeport guys sure do like to eat with 2 forks.
Well I’ll tell ya, reading the news, so much controversy today, and so few TV stations to discuss the tough issues … ballots issues, accusations of voting fraud, etc. Never ends.
Well, at “Bridgeport Now Live TV” we are not afraid take on all topics, even the church. Yup. And no advertiser is gonna stop us because we don’t have commercials. We are free speech, and look out for your best interests and are not afraid of controversy. And we want to do what’s best for Bridgeport residents.
Tonight at 8:30pm we have on someone from the group called, “Voice of The Faithful” to talk about issues. This weekend they stage a dramatic presentation of court documents from alleged clergy abuse in the Diocese of Bridgeport. This is an issue around the world not just in our city.
Here is the group’s press release:
BRIDGEPORT, Conn, OCT 26 – “Voice of the Faithful” in the Diocese of Bridgeport will present the captivating and chilling dramatic presentation, “Bless Me, Father, For I Have Sinned!” on Saturday, Nov. 13 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Norwalk Concert Hall in Norwalk City Hall, 125 East Avenue, Norwalk. Tickets may be purchased for $20 at www .votfbpt.org or at the door.
I really wanna see Obama Approval ratings in CT because Dems did really well in CT and what I can’t believe is how well Dems did in Bridgeport in particular. We were arguing on here if any Republican would hit 30% come to figure they couldn’t even come out to the teens. Himes ran better in 2010 than 2008 what a surprise!!! Himes got 80% 2008, in 2010 84%. Bridgeport is solid Dem.
CT is the only state I think that Dems picked up anything and that was GOV RACE.
At 8pm on Bridgeport Now TV we are joined by a city council person and usual co-anchor to discuss the ballot shortage. Also, Sean from Connecticut Resistance will call in at approx 8:10. He organized a protest in Bridgeport and will comment on Foley and the mayor.
One more thing, Foley lost fair and square and if the election were thrown out it would not be fair because most of the people who went home were going to vote Malloy anyway!!! 90% of the people who left were Malloy voters!!! Congrats to Gov Malloy. Does anyone have results by precincts?
HAHAHAHA!!! Good one!!!
Are you an Illegal alien? Paging New Haven. This is the kind of topic we at OIB should be discussing. But Lennie’s bleeding liberal heart won’t let him:
www .wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=225853
Joel, some have accused me of being an alien life form.
I’ve been accused of being worse by alienates.
Question:
If Bridgeport pols are sure there was no fraud, why was it that voters (who voted with AB’s) are being given instructions like: Don’t answer the door or phone; You don’t have to answer questions; Say you were sick or out of town. And of course the words that came out of Mitch Robles in 2009, “You can’t say I helped you”?
For the OIB record:
The Ann Coulter complaint was file 4 months after the one I filed on Mitch (File No.2009-131). I checked the status online and it appears as no action has been taken, yet!
www .courant.com/news/politics/hc-coulter-complaint-dismissed-1015-20101014,0,3610081.story
Mojo, well stated, Class act on Foley’s part not to challenge the overall election, the next time I will look a little harder at him but hopefully he will look and see the needs of Bridgeport and have some solutions beside just cutting taxes and spending.
I know often Bridgeport was at fault with many things … but I think four other Connecticut cities had ballot shortages. How many votes were made after 10pm? I got a call from the Himes campaign at 9:30pm Tuesday asking me to vote. I think all towns in the state should have been extended hours to be fair. A prominent Republican in Bridgeport told me the election was rigged and set up for Democrats to win and conspiracy was involved. On the other hand, are Republicans open to different possible ideas when Democrats mention conspiracy? Is our government really spending billions to show folks in Afghanistan how fair elections and democracy works while this nonsense is going on at home?
Dear Lord, please let’s hope the Democrats have someone better than Susan Bysiewicz to put up for Lieberman’s seat!
“A prominent Republican in Bridgeport,” now that’s a real oxymoron!
A moron is anyone who thinks Malloy has any ties to the machine, period. The machine broke down for Lamont and Malloy has his sights squarely on them all.
What is John Gomes talking about here?
Look at the numbers out of New Haven and Bridgeport.
Dan Malloy knows exactly who delivered and made him governor.
Huh??? Where does John Gomes come from? I don’t get it.
Reaper, aka NO Sherlock Holmes, thinks I am John Gomes. WRONG. As I have stated here before I have been a Caruso backer although I do admit I like what Gomes has to say so far. Back to the drawing board Reap what you Sow.