How much money will wrestling entrepreneur Linda McMahon spend in her campaign to unseat U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd?
That question has been widely debated in political circles as McMahon has already spent far more money than any other candidate in the race - on television commercials, full-page newspaper advertisements, and brochures [...]
Sen. Chris Dodd said the nation is "one step closer to responsible reform" following tonight's vote in the Senate to allow full debate on a planned overhaul of the nation's health-care system.
"We will have a full and open debate on this important issue,'' Dodd said in a statement. "But [...]
Former state Rep. Bill Dyson and media strategist Dean Pagani will be among the guests Sunday morning on "The Stan Simpson Show'' on Fox 61.
Dyson, the longtime co-chairman of the budget-writing appropriations committee who retired as the dean of the House of Representatives, and Pagani, the former chief of staff" [...]
The University of Connecticut announced Friday that it has called off a controversial proposed merger between the UConn Health Center and Hartford Hospital - a deal that failed to gain enough support at the state Capitol.
The announcement came soon after the faculty at the health center voted this week to [...]
The state's unemployment rate has jumped to 8.8 percent - although that is still lower than the national rate of 10.2 percent.
As the unemployment rate constantly increases, it becomes more and more of a political issue as the candidates head into the 2010 election.
"Today's announcement is yet another stark reminder" [...]
A report from Courant Staff Writer Edmund H. Mahony:
Kevin O'Connor, a Republican former U.S. attorney and former associate U.S. attorney general, said Thursday he will not run for governor, a decision that reshapes what is expected to be a hard-fought contest to replace Gov. M. Jodi Rell.
O'Connor, of West Hartford, [...]
The faculty at the cash-strapped University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington has voted to unionize.
The details are at [www.courant.com]
[...]The Courant's Edmund H. Mahony reports the following:
Buried in debate over the Obama administration's decision to try conspirators in the Sept. 11 attacks in a civilian federal court in New York was talk about where the case could end up should the defendants succeed in seeking a change of venue. [...]
In the age of cell phones, sending text messages is a common occurrence.
But the technology isn't yet perfected to send a reliable text message to the 911 emergency call center.
The reason, as the legislature's public safety committee was told in a forum this week, is that some of the phone calls' [...]
Even as 5th District Republicans await word on whether state Sen. Sam Caligiuri is entering the race for Congress, Republican Justin Bernier continues to line up support.
Bernier announced today that he has picked up the endorsement of the Washington Republican Town Committee. He adds this latest vow of support to endorsements from Republicans [...]
About 650 members of the Yale University community -- students, faculty and staff -- signed a letter urging Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Yale grad, to reverse course on the health care bill.
Lieberman has said he opposes any healthcare bill that includes a government-funded insurance option and has threatened to filibuster any [...]
Republicans yesterday thwarted an effort by Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd that would have frozen credit card rates on existing balances.
"On behalf of several Senators on this side of the aisle, I object," Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Mississippi, said when Dodd attempted to raise the matter.
UPDATE 1: In response to a good question posed by [...]
Superstar Billy Graham ranked among the greatest professional wrestlers of his generation - winning the WWWF championship and helping to sell out Madison Square Garden nearly 20 times.
He traveled around the world and made plenty of money, but it came at a steep price.
Graham admits that he took steroids for [...]
Superstar Billy Graham, one of the best-known professional wrestlers of the 1970s and 1980s, is criticizing Linda McMahon for recent changes in wrestling as she is running for the U.S. Senate.
World Wrestling Entertainment, which McMahon operated as the former CEO before announcing her campaign in mid-September, says the changes and [...]
Before he became a political operative, Chris Healy worked as a reporter at the Register Citizen in Torrington. (This was back in the mid-1980s, an era that is now recalled as the Golden Age of community journalism. Just about every governmental body in Litchfield County -- from the Norfolk board of zoning appeals to the Goshen [...]
In a move that would shake up two political races, the state Republican chairman is publicly asking state Sen. Sam Caligiuri to run against Democratic incumbent Rep. Christopher Murphy in the 5th Congressional district.
As the former acting mayor of Waterbury, Caligiuri is well-known in the Greater Waterbury area, which is near the core [...]
The Connecticut League of Conservation Voters has announced its top 12 "green'' legislators for their support of the environment.
The entire legislature was rated by the CTLCV with ratings ranging from 24 percent to 100 percent - based on votes at both the committee level and on the floor of the" [...]
In case you had not heard, Dean Pagani, Gov. John G. Rowland's former chief of staff and longtime spokesman, is leaving for Washington, D.C.
A former reporter for WPOP-AM in its heyday, Pagani covered everything from local Manchester politics to the creation of the state income tax in 1991. He eventually' [...]
Vice President Joseph Biden will be the headliner at a luncheon fundraiser for his close friend, U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, on Friday, December 11 in Hartford.
The new Connecticut Science Center, overlooking the waterfront, is the venue.
Daniela Altimari has the details at [www.courant.com]
[...]When longtime Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy came in third place in the Quinnipiac Poll last week with 9 percent of the vote in a potential Democratic primary that is almost 10 months away, some insiders were surprised at his lack of name recognition.
Malloy spread his name around the state by [...]
To all our readers:
You should know that we've been having some technical computer problems that is slowing down both the publishing of various posts and your comments. You should also know that it is being worked on.
' [...]
Gov. M. Jodi Rell's executive assistant, Lt. Col. Fran Evon, is heading off to Afghanistan as part of the largest deployment for the Connecticut National Guard since the Korean War.
Rell and some of her staff members gathered at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford - as part of a larger [...]
Former state Sen. Gary Hale, who is now a lobbyist in Hartford, owes nearly $78,000 in state income tax.
Hale became well-known in the hot summer of 1991 for providing one of the crucial votes that allowed for the creation of the state income tax under then-Gov. Lowell P. Weicker, Jr.
The [...]
New Britain Mayor Timothy Stewart has been fighting for years in the trenches of partisan warfare as a Republican mayor up against a Democratic-dominated city council.
Stewart is expected to clash again with Phil Sherwood, a longtime political activist who is now the council leader.
"Phil Sherwood?'' Stewart asked in today's Hartford" [...]
Our colleague, Rick Green, analyzes the latest Quinnipiac College poll that shows former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons ahead of U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd.
It is the sixth straight Q poll - dating back to March - in which Simmons is ahead of Dodd.
The details are at [blogs.courant.com]
[...]Longtime political reporter John King will be replacing controversial host Lou Dobbs on CNN in a prime-time spot.
The details are at [www.courant.com]
[...]When recalling the public policy achievements of her administration during her farewell announcement on Monday, one of the first things Gov. M. Jodi Rell chose to highlight was her signing of the state's landmark law granting civil unions to same-sex couples.
In a voice heavy with emotion, Rell recalled the words of gratitude from a gay couple who hugged her [...]
U.S. Rep. Christopher Murphy voted against a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives that congratulated the New York Yankees on recently winning the World Series.
A Cheshire Democrat, Murphy represents the Fifth Congressional District that stretches from Simsbury to Danbury to Salisbury.
The details are at [www.trufan.com]-
[...]Things in politics seem so simple sometimes, but they rarely are - as Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele may have learned the hard way between Monday evening and Tuesday afternoon.
On Monday night, after Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced that she wouldn't seek re-election, Fedele told reporters that Rell has assured him privately she'll support him for the party's 2010 gubernatorial nomination over any [...]
A day after Gov. M. Jodi Rell dropped her bombshell announcement Monday evening that she wouldn't seek re-election next year, she told reporters that she originally had planned to wait two more weeks to make her decision public - but she finally "couldn't hold it in."
Meeting with reporters Tuesday in New Britain [...]
In an intriguing facet of the latest Quinnipiac University poll results released Tuesday, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz - the only woman in the Democratic party's field of 2010 gubernatorial hopefuls - led Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell among women voters in a theoretical election matchup next year.
The poll [...]
Former House Speaker James Amann and Lou Rell have much in common.
They both have had the same form of cancer of the esophagus, and they chatted about the disease before Rell - the husband of Gov. M. Jodi Rell - had surgery in November 2007 to remove a small, stage [...]
It's from the East Haddam Republican Town Committee. The group's Chairman, Bryan Perry, praises Daly, a Republican running for the House seat currently occupied by U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District.
"Matt Daly knows we cannot afford to keep squandering valuable resources on stimulus packages and he will oppose efforts to" [...]
With Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell dropping out of the race, Democrats are scrambling for front-runner status as they prepare for a primary in August 2010.
At this point, name recognition is a major factor in the race. Those with high name recognition believe it shows their level of support, while those [...]
Protesters supporting healthcare reform staged more demonstrations at U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman's offices in Hartford and Washington today; a total of 16 10 people were arrested.
The activists, who are affiliated with the group Mobilization for Healthcare for All, went to Lieberman's office on Constitutional Plaza this morning. The [...]
Gov. M. Jodi Rell may be a lame duck but Democratic legislative leaders expressed high hopes for her remaining 14 months in the governor's office.
The governor's decision not to seek reelection wasn't entirely surprising, House Majority Leader Denise Merrill said this morning. "Everyone knows the next year or two are'" [...]
It's not going to happen, said his brother and advisor Andrew Schiff.
"Peter's expertise lies more with national economic issues,'' Andrew Schiff said in an email to me this morning.
Peter Schiff is one of five candidates seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.
" [...]Link: Complete Quinnipiac Poll
In a Quinnipiac University poll conducted before Monday's stunning announcement that Gov. M. Jodi Rell would not seek re-election in 2010, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz scored highest among Democratic hopefuls.
When registered Democratic voters were asked whom they favored among a field of six' [...]
Monday's announcement by Gov. M. Jodi Rell that she does not intend to seek another term had the potential to be a game-changer for the Republicans running for U.S. Senate.
Are any of them contemplating jumping from the crowded field of Senate candidates to governor's race?
Nope.
"There has been speculation that in the event" [...]
Rick Green was one of the relatively small group of reporters in Gov. M. Jodi Rell's office for her announcement that she was not running for office.
There were six television cameras filming her announcement - a smaller number than for many events. The reason is that it was a hastily [...]
In a stunning announcement, an emotional Gov. M. Jodi Rell told reporters Monday evening that she is not seeking reelection next year.
Rell did not give any specific reason, other than saying "it's time'' to leave high-level public office after a long career that includes more than five years as governor, 10 years'" [...]
Pfizer is closing its research and development headquarters in New London and will be moving many of the workers to nearby Groton.
The full impact of the moves is still not known as Pfizer consolidates various operations and cuts staffing as the result of a merger with Wyeth.
The Hartford Courant's Eric Gershon has [...]
Sen. John Kissel, an Enfield Republican who has more prisons in his district than any other legislator, is calling upon Gov. M. Jodi Rell to keep all 18 prison facilities open in Connecticut.
Kissel was responding to Rell's order on Friday for the state Department of Correction to conduct a study [...]
U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, a key player in the national health care debate, met Friday with the Bristol Hospital president and staff to talk about health care.
The controversial health care bill passed by 220 to 215 in the U.S. House of Representatives, and it now moves to the Senate. [...]
