Urice May Run Again For Council

I have just finished watching the Comcast show, "In Our Opinion". For those of you who don't know about this shows it features Lynn Waller and Joel Urice talking about various issues happening in our city.

On tonight's show, Waller asked Urice if he plans on attempting to fill the vacant Common Council seat left open because of Ted Cutsumpas' resignation. Urice was elected to the Council in 2003, part of the Republicans takeover of Danbury. However, he was one of the three Republican Councilman to loose their bid for a second term in 2005. Urice represented the sixth ward.

Now, Urice told Waller that he doesn't plan on filling the vacant seat because that means he would have to resign his position on the Planning Commission. But he added that he "may run in the fall". It will be interesting if he does plan on running, and whether he will run in the sixth ward or at-large.

The following are the results from the sixth ward Council race in 2003:

*Michael J. Steinerd (R) -- 749
*Joel Urice (R) -- 707
Paul T. Rotello (D) -- 687
Valdemiro D. Machado (D) -- 622

The following are the results from the sixth ward in 2005:

*Paul T. Rotello (D) -- 770
*Benjamin Chianese (D) -- 727
Joel Urice (R) -- 637
Christopher A. Sanzeni(R) -- 617

Note that Paul Rotello lost by only twenty votes in 2003, and then led all sixth ward candidates in 2005, earning a victory. We will have to wait and see what happens.

Gay Marriage Passes Committee

Breaking News: The Judiciary Committee has voted to approve gay marriage in the state of Connecticut. The final vote was 27-15. The bill now goes to the State House of Representatives, where its future is said to be unknown. You can read the story here from the Hartford Courant.

This is how our following representatives from Danbury, who are on the Judiciary Committee, voted:

State Senator David Cappiello (R-24) - NO
State Representative Bob Godfrey (D-110) - YES
State Representative Jan Giegler (R-138) - NO

So, we will have to wait and see what happens. However, this has become a historic day for Connecticut.

Danbury & Hillary Clinton

Well, where do I begin? People love Hillary, while others hate her. As we all know, she has already made history, being the first really electable woman running for President, and the only former First Lady. She is currently the junior Senator from New York, being elected in 2000. Clinton is said to be the front runner on the Democratic side, but that seems to be shrinking little by little, as many have become interested in Barack Obama and John Edwards. However, she enjoys the lead as of now, with the most recent poll from Polling Report being the following:

Hillary Rodham Clinton -- 41%
John Edwards -- 19%
Barack Obama -- 17%
Joe Biden -- 4%
Bill Richardson -- 3%

Now, Danbury Democrats can be very interesting. More picked Dan Malloy than John DeStefano in the 2006 primary for Governor. They went with Ned Lamont over Joe Lieberman in the primary also. However, they did pick Al Gore in the 2000 primary, and John Kerry in the 2004 primary. If Danbury Democrats pick the front runner when they vote, Clinton may have the edge (if she is still the front runner), but it is really to close to call. I do have a funny feeling that Danbury Dems are going to go with Obama. As of right now, Connecticut Democrats do support Clinton the most. The latest Quinnipiac Poll is below:

Clinton -- 33%
Obama -- 21%
Gore -- 9%
Dodd -- 8%
Edwards -- 5%

If Clinton does get the nomination, she does do fairly well in head to head match ups against Republicans in our state. The following are poll results that show Clinton leading Rudy Giuliani and John McCain in Connecticut:

Clinton -- 46%
Giuliani -- 44%

Clinton -- 48%
McCain -- 40%

Though there aren't any polls done in Danbury, polls from Fairfield County show similar results:

Clinton -- 47%
Giuliani -- 43%

Clinton -- 50%
McCain -- 41%

What is interesting is, Fairfield County is considered to be more Republican than many other parts of the state, but Clinton does better against McCain here. Clinton has a good shot at winning Connecticut in the general election, but Barack Obama is going to give her a very tough fight in the primary. When about 47% of Americans have negative views of Clinton, it is hard to get elected, but if anyone could pull it off it's a Clinton!

Danbury & Rudy Giuliani

I decided that instead of just constantly posting news on the Presidential candidates, I would analyze the candidates and connect them to how Danbury voters may view them.

The first candidate is Rudy Giuliani. He was Mayor of New York City from 1993-2001. What may make or break it for Giuliani is if he will be able to make voters remember September 11, 2001, and remind them that the threat of terrorism is still very big. If he can do this then he is in very good shape. Giuliani is consistently ahead of all of his Republican rivals for the presidency in all national polls. The most recent from Polling Report is:

Rudy Giuliani -- 34%
John McCain -- 17%
Fred Thompson -- 10%
Newt Gingrich -- 9%
Mitt Romney -- 6%

Danbury Republicans are not very conservative. They usually support the more moderate candidate for President. For example, John McCain won Danbury in the 2000 primary. What is different this time, is that when you put all the Republican candidates together, McCain is not the most moderate candidate --- Giuliani is. This could be good news for the former Mayor, as I predict that Danbury Republican voters will support him, and the state of Connecticut will as well. The latest Quinnipiac Poll shows Giuliani with the lead:

Giuliani -- 43%
McCain -- 27%
Romney -- 4%
Gingrich -- 5%

If Republicans across the country want moderate views, and Giuliani is the nominee, he could definitely win northeastern states, and possibly Connecticut. As of right now, most polls show Giuliani with leads over all of his likely Democratic opponents. In Connecticut, Giuliani trails Hillary Clinton by a very reachable number:

Clinton -- 46%
Giuliani -- 44%

In Fairfield County the results are very similar, however Clinton has a slightly bigger lead:

Clinton -- 47%
Giuliani -- 43%

So, what does all this mean? Well, it is still very early, but if voters not only in Connecticut, but throughout the country, want a moderate, independent voice to be their next President, then Rudy Giuliani is on track to become it. Don't mark my word, but I believe Giuliani will win the Connecticut primary, and if he is the Republican nominee, will win Connecticut in the general election.

Councilman Resigns

At-Large Councilman, Ted Cutsumpas (R), has resigned his position to become the new city's Community Services Director. He became a member of the Council in September of2005, to fill the term of Wanda Payton who resigned, and was then elected to his own term two months later. You can read the article here from the News-Times.

UPDATE: Here is the full article from the News-Times that's in today's paper. Just a note for those of you who don't know, the Republican Town Committee will nominate a person to fill the vacant seat. The full Council will then vote and approve the pick. Another side note is that anyone from Danbury can fill Cutsumpas' seat because it is At-Large. So, wonder who it will be?

Budget Passes

Last night, the Common Council passed the budget that Mayor Boughton put before them. The News-Times is reporting that it passed on a vote of 16-3, while other local blogs have reported that it passed on a vote of 17-2. I guess these are the times where we can't trust our local paper. Whatever the fact is, the budget has passed, and it was nice to see that most of the Council members were in favor of it.

Fourth Poll Results

The results of our most recent poll are in! The question that was asked was if you plan on supporting Senator Chris Dodd's presidential campaign. It seems like most people are fond of the better-known candidates, rather than our Senator. The results were the following:

Yes: 3 (25%)
No: 7 (58%)
Undecided: 2 (12%)

A new poll is up, make sure you take it. Coming soon we will be analyzing how Danbury voters may vote for particular candidates running for President, and of course more on the upcoming election. For now, enjoy the college basketball championship, and finally BASEBALL IS BACK!!!