Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

Pesci Q: Before we get to the particulars, the details where the devil lives and breathes let me ask you some general questions. A: Sure. Q: When did you first start writing for newspapers? A: I remember my first or second column for the Journal Inquirer (JI). I’m not sure of the exact date. It was a column on Thurman Milner, who was then running as mayor of Hartford on the Democrat ticket. Milner won the contest about 40 years ago and became the first black mayor of a major city in Connecticut. Q: Do you remember what the column was about? A: I do. It has long since been consigned to the newspaper morgue at the JI. Q: Curious that you remember. A: No one forgets the circumstances involving the birth of their first commentary. The mayoralty race was well underway when the JI stumbled upon some questionable credentials presented by Milner. He had flourished a certificate from “Roachdale College.” The paper discovered the certificate was produced as a result of a dormitory ...

The prospect of a Republican victory in a U.S. Senate race brings out the worst in former Republican U.S. Senator Lowell Weicker (Maverick CT), famous for poisoning the well against members of his own party. In his 1986 race against then U.S. Senator Chris Dodd, Roger Eddy went to Washington to secure the support of Mr. Weicker, who promised the Republican prospect he would support him a hundred percent.

“Former congressman Rob Simmons is once again a candidate and back in the race for the U.S. Senate after a two month hiatus,” according to Dennis House of (WFBC’s) “Face the State .” Apparently, when Simmons said he would accept the decision of the Republican nominating convention that chose Linda McMahon as its candidate to run for U.S. Senator Chris Dodd’s seat, he misspoke . Following the convention, Simmons dismissed most of his staff. His candidacy appeared to be dead in the water, though Simmons left his name on the ballot, he said at the time, Simmons is expected to acknowledge on Sunday’s Face the State interview with House that he “paused” his campaign and, at the urging of former Republican Governor and Senator Lowell Weicker, has now resumed campaigning, an announcement that would seem to answer questions others have had concerning Simmons’ decision to leave his toe in the political water. Prior to the “Face The State” admissions, Jim Geraghty of National Review expre...

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post actually ran the numbers and discovered – Surprise! – that Sen. Joe Lieberman is not polluted with conservativism: “His ideology has not changed one bit, as measured by vote ratings. The American Conservative Union scored his conservatism an eight out of 100 in 2008, the same as Maryland's Ben Cardin (Obama scored a more conservative 17). His lifetime conservative rating is 16, and over the past five years he's actually been a slightly more liberal 8.2. Ratings by the liberal Americans for Democratic Action tell a similar tale, and a University of California at San Diego ranking through the end of July found him to be the 28th most liberal member of the Senate this year, tied with that conservative icon, Daniel Akaka of Hawaii.” It may come as a shock both to the enemies of Lieberman and the friends of Obama – often, they are the same people – to find that Obama’s liberal ratings fall short of Lieberman’s. In a recent interview, Lieberm...