spazeboy

Just the videos of their opening statements. I had neither my camcorder nor my tripod with me, so I apologize in advance for the substandard quality of my videos this time around.

Ned Lamont on behalf of Barack Obama

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This is not huge news, but I genuinely like the “coming together” message it sends when Dan Malloy comes out to support John DeStefano and Mary Glassman. It was just one month ago that Malloy and DeStefano were in a heated primary election battle.

And today, I received an e-mail from Mayor Malloy:

I ran for governor because I believe Connecticut is adrift; we have a governor who has offered no solutions, plans, or leadership on the issues that affect our families most. Rising property taxes, health care premiums, and energy costs are hurting our businesses, communities, and families.

John has proven himself in New Haven - and on the campaign trail - as a candidate who understands the obstacles facing Connecticut and who would govern with the vision and values that make me proud to call myself a Democrat.

It’s time to get Connecticut’s economy moving again; by working with the business community, investing in transportation, creating jobs, and becoming a leader on health care and energy policy.

I’m not only urging Democrats to support John and Mary - I’m urging all of Connecticut’s families to vote for them in November and help move our state forward again.

CTBlogger has a nice post up contrasting the issues that John DeStefano has taken a stand on with the issues that M. Jodi Rowland-Rell (the accidental governor) cares about.

When all the votes are counted after the polls close on August 8, the loser should begin supporting the winner.

Whether victory is won by five points, or point-oh-five points, the voters will have spoken and the candidates should listen.

We’re all Democrats, and on August 9th, we’re all going forward together. What happens on August 8th is “family business” within the Democratic party.

For the gubernatorial primary, going forward will be very easy. The candidates, Dan Malloy and John DeStefano have both pledged to support the winner. Doing so has not undermined the candidacy of either.

For the Senate primary, we have Ned Lamont, who will support the winner and respect the will of the voters, and we have Joe Lieberman, who will throw a hissy fit in the form of 7,500 petition signatures gathered by paid out-of-staters (according to some reports) and start his own party.

Doing so is a slap in the face to everyone who is going out to vote on August 8. It’s a slap in the face to anyone who is working for a Senator Lieberman victory in the primary. It’s a slap in the face to elected Democrats all over the state who have supported Senator Lieberman.

It’s also just plain foolish.

If Senator Lieberman cannot win with a $10 million dollar campaign, 4,000 paid volunteers, across-the-board support from Connecticut’s Democratic Party establishment, special campaign visits from Bill Clinton, Barbara Boxer, Joe Biden, and Ken Salazar–he’s completely delusional if he thinks he can win an election without that support. And whether he loses by 1 vote, or 10,000 votes he should step aside and support the winner.

Ned Lamont is man enough to respect the will of the voters.

As promised, here are links to the videos of the Democratic candidates who spoke today. I would love to embed them all into this post, but having so many video players on one page really slows down browsing. Time-permitting, I may upload the full-length speeches by each of these candidates, but in my experience nobody wants to watch a long video at YouTube.

Tim O’Brien at CCSU Forum

Now, presented in the same order in which the candidates spoke, links to highlight videos of their speeches:

• Dan Malloy, Democratic Candidate for Governor - The opening line he used got big laughs, “I’ve actually now finally broken the code. If you want to have cameras in the room when you speak, you have to get there before Ned Lamont does.”
• Susan Bysiewicz, Incumbent Democratic Candidate for Secretary of State - She made an important point about how the new voting machines that will be implemented in the state will have a paper trail.
• John DeStefano, Democratic Candidate for Governor - Speaks about state school tuition going up 50% in the past 7 years.
• Ned Lamont, Democratic Candidate for U.S. Senate - On the anniversary of Dick Cheney’s energy bill, Ned Lamont calls for a change and wonders aloud why Joe Lieberman was the only New England Democrat to vote for it
• Chris Murphy, Democratic Candidate for Congress - Chris talks about how young people are changing politics as usual, and points out how his opponent Nancy Johnson was the deciding vote on a budget bill that cut student loan funding.
• Tim O’Brien, Incumbent Democratic Candidate for CT State Representative in the 24th District - Tim uses some of his short amount of time at the lectern to endorse Ned Lamont and encourage voters to choose Lamont in the voting booth on August 8.

I’m currently processing the video I recorded at the event, and will have a full report with video highlights of the Democratic candidates online either later today or sometime tomorrow. Here are the initial details:

• Despite being a confirmed attendee, AG Richard Blumenthal was not present. It’s possible that he spoke before I arrived, but he was scheduled to arrive at the same time as the other candidates.
• Representative and AG candidate from the Republican Party Robert Farr was there, and first to address the audience.
• Republican candidate for Secretary of State Richard Abbate attended and spoke after Mr. Farr
• Stamford Mayor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Daniel Malloy attended and spoke after Mr. Abbate
• Sec. of State Susan Bysiewicz also attended and spoke after Mayor Malloy
• New Haven Mayor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate John DeStefano attended the forum and spoke following Bysiewicz
• Ned Lamont spoke after Mayor DeStefano–as expected, Lamont appeared to be the biggest draw to the event
• State Representative and Democratic Congressional candidate for Connecticut’s fifth district Chris Murphy followed Ned Lamont. Murphy’s first television ad begins airing today.
• State Representative Tim O’Brien from New Britain (House District 24) spoke last and used some of his short time allotment to endorse Ned Lamont, imploring attendees to choose Lamont in the voting booth on August 8th
• Senator Lieberman was not confirmed to attend, and unsurprisingly did not attend. Senator Lieberman has passed up three opportunities to speak publicly in New Britain in as many months. The first was on May 11 when the NAACP held a candidates forum at CCSU–at this event, Lieberman’s campaign manager spoke in his stead and it is my understanding that Lieberman himself had committed to attending. The second was on June 22, when Senator Lieberman was expected to attend the monthly New Britain DTC meeting–at this event, a representative from the Lieberman campaign spoke briefly. The third was today at CCSU–I saw no representative from the Lieberman campaign.

As mentioned here previously, New Britain is the center of Connecticut’s political universe this upcoming Wednesday, July 26th. Ned Lamont is the big draw that morning, and is expected to arrive by 11am.

Here is the full rundown of candidates expected, from the New Britain Community News blog (I’ve added links to the candidates websites, where applicable):

• Representative Tim O’Brien, candidate for CT. District 24, will be with us at 10:45 A.M.
• Representative Chris Murphy, candidate for U. S. Congress, will be with us at 10:45 A.M.
• Representative Robert Farr, candidate for Ct. State Attorney General, will be with us at 10:45 A.M.
• Representative Richard Abbatte, candidate for Secretary of the State of CT, will be with us at 10:45 A.M.
• Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, encumbant candidate for CT State Attorney General, will be with us at 10:45 A.M.
• Ned Lamont, candidate for U. S. Senate, will be there at 11 A.M.
• Mayor Dan Malloy, candidate for Connecticut Governor, will be there at 11 A.M.

I’ve never been to one of these, and “part one” as it were was held on the 18th (the night of the Malloy/DeStefano debate), so I’m kind of excited to see how it turns out. Every candidate seems to be arriving around the same time, so I wonder if it will be a panel where everyone gets their turn to speak or more like a candidate fair where everyone gets to meet their favorite candidates. I suppose it’s quite likely to be a bit of both. Surely since Dan Malloy and Ned Lamont are both in primaries coming up on August 8th they’ll be given prime speaking times so they can get out and do more campaigning during this home stretch.

I’m looking forward to meeting Tim O’Brien, one of the local State Reps, and am also excited to see Chris Murphy speak again. Should be a great day–only in New Britain!