Joe Ganim is a relentless campaigner on a mission to win a general election backed by a second-chance message and an army of volunteers that propelled him to a historic Democratic primary win over Mayor Bill Finch. No incumbent mayor in city history had ever been defeated in a primary.
Judging by Ganim’s full public schedule of events, door knocking, planned fundraisers and building coalitions, he’s not taking his primary win lightly against chief rivals Mary-Jane Foster and Republican Rick Torres.
Ganim’s path to his primary win was built on the energetic passion of the candidate that translated to volunteers and electors who participated in a primary for the first time. Between registering new voters and switching unaffiliated electors, a pool of 2,000 more voters were available to Ganim in securing 6,200 primary votes to Finch’s 5,800. Finch ironically, in losing the mayoralty, received his highest vote total in three appearances on the ballot in a primary.
Ganim married the strength of his 11-plus years in office with a hands-on approach to campaigning buoyed by a message of the future focused on taxes and public safety. He ran a nearly flawless campaign that received a few breaks along the way primarily by Finch going too hard too soon against Ganim’s past that helped to insulate Ganim from attacks deeper into the gut of the campaign. Ganim also immunized himself from his past with an unprecedented retail campaign, touching thousands of voters directly throughout the city that led to large pluralities particularly in African American precincts.
Ganim also showed, despite his past, he could raise money, in record amounts, in just a few months.
Arguably the most difficult task facing Ganim in the general election is complacency. The Ganim campaign galvanized the anti-Finch vote his way. A number of Ganim voters on primary day saw the former mayor as the vehicle to take out Finch. Will some of them, with Finch out of the way, be inspired back to the polls?
Ganim represents the Democratic line in a Democratic city, he has campaign cash and a mighty number of volunteers. The general election is not a slam dunk for Ganim, but he’s still well positioned to make history on Nov. 3.
Joe Ganim is teaching all of us something to remember as we close out this historical election cycle.
There is an overwhelming number of voters in Bridgeport who remember the good Mayor.
Joe Ganim is teaching us it is still possible to fool some of the people all of the time. The general election is not an assured win for him or Enrique Torres and Mary-Jane Foster, the preeminent challengers to Ganim’s attempt at making history. A growing number of people are taking pause, troubled by the possibility a man convicted of public corruption may be the once and future mayor of Bridgeport.
At this point the election is a toss-up. No one is guaranteed to win. It will be a historic election in more than one regard: the turnout is expected to be the highest in years. Hopefully Joe Ganim’s “historic” run for forgiveness will be relegated to an asterisk and a footnote in a political science textbook.
Bridgeport Kid, that was by far your best post.
Got the message. No sleep for the good guys out there working for their respective candidates until Nov 3. Got it, teams Foster and Torres?
Shhhhhhhhh, don’t tell anybody. No press conference to announce another Foster headquarters. Her advisers don’t want anyone to get excited. It is disturbing to me as well as supporters all over the city. Even bad press will be forgotten tomorrow. Great front-page article on Ganim.
Btw, I thought Foster was received very well today. Ganim not so much. It was a great day for a parade. A cop driving in the parade noticed my Foster sign. He yelled out to me “get ready for Joe!” People standing by me including a cop were very vocal about Ganim. I am actually glad he didn’t have to hear it.
I don’t see how you are helping her campaign by continually saying shhhhhh, don’t wake her up. There is definitely a bewildering invisibility going on with Foster, but spreading that message won’t inspire confidence anytime soon enough.
Park City too–the point is to wake the campaign up!!! There are too many supporters questioning the lack of visibility. Shall we discuss this on Nov. 4th? I have been trying to wake up the Foster campaign since I was supporting Finch. Obviously the comments went nowhere. The Foster campaign got their biggest boost from Bill Finch. There are still Foster slugs making negative comments about Finch. The Connecticut Post article will be the last gift three weeks before the election. Bad decisions over and over again cost elections. I am only one of many who have given time and energy. If not now, when? If not now, when? If not now, when? If not now, when?
Park City too. If you were putting in your time, you would want to wake up the top advisers. If you are not touching voters you are wasting your time. I am not getting paid for my time and I have never been rewarded for my efforts, so let’s be honest. I have every right to bitch since this is my candidate and I expect victory. Park City too, if you are doing anything for the Foster campaign, please say hello.
There’s a great quote in this morning’s CT Post. A story about the Columbus Day Parade quote noted the mayoral candidates were there. A man was quoted as saying “I don’t object to the politicians. They have a right to expose themselves.” Made me laugh out loud, as if the politicians were flashing the crowd.
Lucky for Ms. Leap Year she only pops her head out every four years and won’t have to walk in a parade again until 2019.
Ms. Leap Year? As though Ganim didn’t spend his last few years out of jail in Easton?
Good point. Joe Ganim has been out of prison for more than five years. If he is such a man of the people what was he doing before he made his crocodile confession to a church congregation last January? Was he working with underprivileged street kids? Mentoring inner-city youth? Was he involved in community activities? No, no and no. He was up in Easton, looking for work. Employment opportunities for a disbarred attorney are rather scarce, understandably. How can you trust a man declared morally unfit to practice law?
Joe Ganim’s popularity peaked just after the primary. He has been fairly adept at shining over his criminal past. The backlash cannot be written off any more. More and more, people are talking about his record of corruption, how his activities set back the city and scared off developers.
I do not think the odds are in Ganim’s favor at all. Today’s front-page reminder was Ganim’s worst nightmare three weeks before the election. He is fortunate to have a great group of nurturing supporters.
Foster is lucky to have many different groups of supporters.
Rick Torres has been seen everywhere. I know because I have been everywhere.
Joe Ganim has already been everywhere, twice. I know because I have seen him everywhere twice. I admire his tenacity.
Three weeks ago I saw a different scenario with Mayor Finch and now I see only one option. Mary-Jane Foster will make a fine Mayor. She has her own agenda. She supports the best of what Mayor Finch has done for the city and nobody can claim victory for Steelpointe’s shovel in the ground but Mayor Finch. I know Foster will continue to improve the climate in Bridgeport for economic development and investors. I know she has a good adviser in Nancy Hadley and I know David Kooris has done a wonderful job. Continuity is key.
MJF does not, or did not agree with you on Kooris according to her first first-50-day plan:
● I will actively recruit and hire an experienced and visionary Director of Economic Development
Mary-Jane Foster does not have to agree with me on Kooris. He has done a fantastic job and continuity is important.
Sorry–thought you were speaking from campaign info and from MJF comment on CT Post toady about probably keeping him on in some capacity.
Continuity is the last thing Bridgeport needs.
Park City too, when it comes to economic development it is everything and the city has more projects happening now than in the past 50 years. Foster is a thoughtful woman and she is no fool! There are folks who need to go immediately. Kooris would not be one of them.
I’m making a veiled joke about the continuity of corruption in Bridgeport. Now it is again front-page news and most people still don’t think it is a viable political topic. Wow, that is certainly a tough crowd. Saw a documentary on the great Richard Pryor’s early life, his grandmother ran a brothel and his poor mother was one of the available prostitutes (their term, not mine, thanks). That does remind me of the type of vote it will take to re-elect one of the three candidates. If it is obvious which one, than I guess the analogy fits.
“When SA talks, people listen.” NOT!
Jimfox,
When SA speaks everyone listens and that is why you made the comment!
Who is Tom McCarthy supporting? I haven’t seen him in any of the pics.
Tom McCarthy is not supporting Ganim, Taylor, Coviello, Torres or Barr. I think it is a safe bet to say he is supporting Mary-Jane Foster. Hector, how do you not know this???
I would bet Tom’s salary he is NOT supporting MJF. STEVEN, if you are as active as you imply you would KNOW THIS.
He looked pretty supportive yesterday at the lineup for the parade. I was there.
HE IS SUPPORTING MARY-JANE FOSTER.