Some Connecticut Questions

[JSojourner]

Now that Chris Dodd has opted not to see another term...and it appears Attorney General Blumenthal will attempt to succeed him, there are some questions I have been mulling over.

1.  The name of former Congressman Rob Simmons keeps surfacing as a possible Republican Senate nominee.  What numbers I have seen for him are rather low now that the unpopular Dodd is out of the equation. Is there a reason for this?  Is he more popular with one wing of the GOP than another?  Do Republican voters think he's weak?  (Seems odd if that's the case, because he lost so narrow a race in '06.)

2.  My favorite of the current crop of Connecticut pols is Rosa DeLauro.  She's a classic liberal, like me...at least in terms of her voting record.  I've heard her speak a time or two and she seems quite erudite and informed, without being obnoxiously arrogant. Why hasn't her name come up as a possible heir to the Dodd seat?  (I could be missing something...so fill me in.)

3.   What's Lowell Weicker doing these days?

[Meeker]

Weicker lives in Virginia now, and DeLauro is a good friend of Pelosi's (or at least has been - she and Pelosi had a bit of a blow up over the Stupak amendment) Basically she's a House gal through and through and I doubt she'd ever want to leave. She also couldn't even come close to beating Blumenthal so that's probably for the best.

[cinyc]

Simmons isn't a possible Republican nominee - he announced that he is running (or at least forming an exploratory commission) and is actively fundraising and campaigning.  He's not as active in the NYC OTA TV market as his main Republican rival, Linda McMahon has been, but he's the frontrunner.

Mrs. McMahon is married to the head of the WWE - and has been spending tons of self-funded dough on ads in the expensive, low-yielding NYC and Hartford/New Haven TV markets.   Connecticut is usually an afterthought in the NYC TV market - but all of Fairfield County is in it, and NYC signals reach much of New Haven County as well, especially along the Sound Shore.

In addition to those two, Hedge Fund Guru Peter Schiff is in the race, but hasn't been advertising in the NYC market, as far as I know.

Former Ambassador Tom Foley was also in the Senate race, but has decided to run for governor instead, after sitting Governor Rell announced her resignation.

[Verily]

Simmons will drop out now that Blumenthal is in. It would terrible for his political aspirations to be crushed by Blumenthal. Better to wait until Lieberman is forced out and then run against a less popular Democrat.

McMahon will probably be the nominee, and she'll lose by more than twenty points.

[cinyc]

Simmons will drop out now that Blumenthal is in. It would terrible for his political aspirations to be crushed by Blumenthal. Better to wait until Lieberman is forced out and then run against a less popular Democrat.

McMahon will probably be the nominee, and she'll lose by more than twenty points.

Possibly - some think Simmons may run for Lt. Governor on the Republican ticket.   But as of right now, he's still in the race.

Blumenthal hasn't faced a real contested race at least in the past 3 cycles.  He's probably at his zenith in support right now.  When his activist record gets scrutinized, his support will fall a bit, though probably not enough to lose unless there's a huge scandal nobody knows about.

[Brittain33]

Blumenthal hasn't faced a real contested race at least in the past 3 cycles.  He's probably at his zenith in support right now.  When his activist record gets scrutinized, his support will fall a bit, though probably not enough to lose unless there's a huge scandal nobody knows about.

He certainly won't win by 65%-28% or whatever the polls are now showing.

[JohnnyLongtorso]

Blumenthal's support now is obviously a high water mark; his numbers will probably come down, but I would expect at a guess he'd win in the mid-high 50s.

Rosa DeLauro is like 66 years old now, and also have you seen her? She's seriously scary-looking.

[cinyc]

Rosa DeLauro is like 66 years old now, and also have you seen her? She's seriously scary-looking.

Blumenthal isn't exactly the best looking man in the world himself. 

If Senators like Mikulski, Sanders, McConnell, Lieberman and other not-so-pretty folks can win their Senate seats, looks really don't matter much.