spazeboy

Future 4th District Congressman Jim Himes is airing his first ad. Click here to share it with your family, friends and neighbors.

Himes has a lot of events coming up, and that walk across the district looks especially fun.

This past weekend I helped CT Bob film an interview with 5th district Congressman Chris Murphy at his New Britain campaign headquarters. After a weekend of editing, CT Bob has posted the interview, which clocks in at 22 minutes:

This is not the first interview that I’ve teamed up with CT Bob to shoot. There was also the great Ned Lamont interview of ‘07.

Senator Ted Kennedy was originally slated to speak at Wesleyan University’s 176th commencement this upcoming Sunday, which is a pretty good deal. His step-daughter is graduating and it is his son’s 25th reunion, so having Senator Kennedy speak at graduation would have been just as significant for him as it would have been for the Class of ‘08. But due to his recent health scare and diagnosis, a substitute will be speaking in his place: Barack Obama.

Senator Obama is honored to speak on behalf of United States Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who was previously scheduled to deliver the address.

“Ted and I talked about me filling in for him at Wesleyan University earlier this week. Considering what he’s done for me and for our country, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him. So I’m looking forward to standing in his place on Sunday even though I know I won’t be able to fill his shoes,” Senator Obama said.

“We were greatly saddened that Senator Kennedy could not speak at this year’s ceremony, and our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family,” said Michael S. Roth, President of Wesleyan University. “We look forward to Senator Obama’s address and consider it a great honor to Wesleyan and Senator Kennedy that he has decided to join us, our graduates, their families and the entire Wesleyan community.”

The “entire Wesleyan community” is usually pretty broadly defined, but my guess is that the scope of the “entire Wesleyan community” that will be able to attend commencement is going to be narrowed. This is completely understandable, because commencement is a crazy event on its own without a speaker who draws 75,000 people and (and their boats). But you can check out the speech (and commencement) this Sunday at 11 via the WesCast at http://wescast.wesleyan.edu.

Less close to home, heart, and where I bust my brain is the 2nd Congressional District represented by Joe Courtney. As one of Connecticut’s remaining undeclared superdelegates, many of us in Connecticut were waiting to hear who Courtney would endorse. Why it took him 3.5 months after the Connecticut primary to make up his mind I don’t know, but I am pleased that he decided to throw his support to Barack Obama.

CTBlogger spoke with Joe Courtney about his endorsement in an interview you can hear at My Left Nutmeg:

In the interview, Congressman Courtney also discussed how an Obama ticket would help other races in the state, talked about his support for the G.I. Bill/Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, and reflected on his first term as congressman of the second district.

That leaves us with only one undeclared superdelegate in Connecticut. After reading CT Bob’s take, I think she’s just constipated. Will somebody please get this superdelegate a super-laxative?

It was a dark and stormy night, but that didn’t stop the community members from coming out to the 100th House District convention in Middlefield Tuesday, where Democrats selected Matt Lesser to run against Republican Raymond Kalinowski.

I know Lesser from his long record of involvement in local politics and as a student at Wesleyan University — things that you can read about in Lesser’s extensive and impressive bio. All I know about Kalinowski is that he is serving his 3rd term in the 100th District, and based on what I saw in Middlefield last night, it will probably be his last.

Challengers to incumbents always face an uphill climb, but after attending the convention in Middlefield last night, I have compiled a list of the several reasons why I think Lesser is going to win:

• Turnout in November
  Turnout for Democrats in the November election will be huge thanks to candidates like Barack Obama and Ned Lamont encouraging so many new voters to register. As Lesser pointed out last night, of all the districts currently represented by Republicans, the 100th boasts the greatest number of Democrats.
• Turnout last night
  There were no shortage of reasons for people to skip last night’s convention: the weather was miserable; the nomination was uncontested; there was an important education budget/funding meeting going on in one of the district’s towns at the same time. Yet every seat at the modest convention was filled.
• Support

  Lesser has built an impressive coalition of supporters that is both wide and deep. This is evidenced not only by turnout at the convention, but by the fact that his nomination by Christine Bourne (of Middletown) was seconded three times — the first two by Ona McLaughlin and Mary Johnson (of Durham and Middlefield, respectively) and the third being offered extemporaneously by Middletown DTC Chairman Dan Russo.

  State Senator Thomas Gaffey also came out to support Lesser’s campaign, remarking that it will be nice to have a Democrat in Hartford to help him deliver for their overlapping districts. As if that weren’t enough to demonstrate the breadth and depth of support for Lesser’s candidacy, former 100th District Representative and present Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz attended the convention to endorse Lesser.

• Public Financing
  Connecticut has new public financing laws that overwhelmingly level the playing field for challengers. Once a candidate meets a fundraising threshold of $5000 from 150 district residents, public financing kicks in a sizable grant. Lesser has already qualified for public financing, which means he can spend more time knocking on doors in the district than he will have to spend raising money. When you can spend more time listening to voters than asking them to open their wallets, you’re going to win.

I shot three videos at last night’s convention, which are included below. If you’d like to learn more about Matt Lesser’s campaign, be sure to visit his website at www.mattlesser.com.

Susan Bysiewicz

Matt Lesser Acceptance Speech

Matt Lesser Interview

I would apologize about the noisy background in this video, but it’s evidence that this convention was buzzing.

The race in Connecticut’s 4th Congressional District is finally heating up after the Republican and Democratic nominating conventions, with experts saying that it’s going to be a barnburner. What do you think?

Actually, there is a news source — less reputable than The Onion though it may be — that cares what you think about the race in the 4th CD. The Greenwich Time asks in its May 14 daily poll:

Will Greenwich Democrat Jim Himes beat incumbent Republican Chris Shays for the 4th District Congressional seat?

Click on over to the Greenwich Time and give them your answer.

Two time challenger to Chris Shays in Connecticut’s 4th Congressional District, Diane Farrell, endorsed Jim Himes yesterday. Enthusiastically:

Farrell described Himes as a man “with his finger on the pulse of the needs of families” who “understands the needs of the district.” Noting Himes’ involvement at the local level, as well as his support of her own runs for congress, Farrell praised Himes’ “important work for families in this area.”

Farrell added, “Jim Himes will be a superb member of Congress. I enthusiastically stand in support of Jim.”

_{Unrelated Pharrell video. Enjoy!}