Third Quarter Fundraising Totals

Today, both candidates for Congress here in the fifth district released their fundraising totals for the third quarter.

Congressman Chris Murphy raised about 220K, which brings his total amount raised to more than 1 million dollars. He currently has 940K cash on hand. His Republican challenger, David Cappiello, raised around 70K down from his impressive 200K he raised last quarter. He has about 204K cash on hand.

Now, the third quarter is typically the toughest quarter to raise money. The numbers are usually lower than any other. For example Murphy raised 137K more the last quarter, and Cappiello is down 130K.

It should be very interesting what happens next quarter. Cappiello will have to make a big statement, whereas Murphy is able to raise a lot of money and will try to even further himself from Cappiello when it comes to fundraising.

Candidates To Talk About Education

This Tuesday night, candidates for Mayor as well as those for the Board of Education will be at Roger's Park Middle School to answer questions from the public mainly regarding education.

Just to note there are seven Board of Education seats open this year. Six of them are for a four year term, and the other is a two year term. I'll have more to come on ballot placing and voting in general in the weeks to come because it can get very confusing.

All those interested in listening to Mayor Mark Boughton and his Democratic challenger Helena Abrantes, as well as those running for the school board should go to Roger's Park on Tuesday night at 7PM.

Poll Results

Our latest poll question was how big you will take the issue of illegal immigration when you vote next month. Here are the results:

Very Big: 54 (66%)
So-So: 1 (1%)
Not Big: 27 (33%)

Thanks to all who voted. The new polls are up, and they all have to do with the upcoming election. They'll remain up until then. On another note, the News-Times has changed their website, and it looks pretty good. Go check it out by clicking here.

Speculation: The Quiet Race

This year, there are very competitive races throughout the top of the ticket, along with those for the Council. However, one race that hasn't gained much attention is the race for City Treasurer between Republican incumbent Dan Jowdy and Democrat Brian Cotter.

Jowdy was elected Treasurer in 2003 by nearly 2,000 votes. He earned re-election is 2005 by a little more than 1,000 votes. Cotter was a former member of the Board of Education and Democratic Town Committee. He is also an attorney.

Now, at many community events, such as the festivals in the late summer and early fall, Jowdy has made a good presence. From what I see, Cotter has not made the presence that Jowdy has. For example, I haven't seen one lawn sign for him. However, that does not mean that he isn't out there. He may be doing many behind the scenes work, connecting with voters one on one.

Jowdy does have many lawn signs out, and is definitely known throughout the city. Cotter does have an ad on the News-Times website, but that's about as much as I've seen. Something interesting to note is that I've noticed a decent number of lawn signs for Jowdy at houses with Democratic signs, just a to see his wide range of support.

One thing is for sure, this race is not going to get really any attention. It's being overshadowed by the races for Town and City Clerk, along with the race for Mayor. It should be interesting what comes out, but truthfully I don't see how Cotter could pull off a win. But hey -- who knows?

Mayoral Debate

I thought I'd include the article that was in the News-Times the other day regarding the Mayoral Debate. You can read it here.

I thought the debate usually airs on Comcast for the public to watch, however I'm not positive. It seems that the issue of immigration did play a large role in the debate, as well as the growth of our city.

If the debate is played on television, then I will do a follow up post on it. If any of you went to watch, feel free to share what you took out of it, and what it was like. Also, Abrantes has put up a website. The link is on the side.

Boughton Backing Romney

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced today his leadership team from Connecticut. Mayor Mark Boughton is part of Team Mitt, and has been chosen as Co-Chair of the Romney operations in our state. You can read it here.

This is very interesting news as many in Connecticut have remained quiet on who they plan on supporting. The candidate with the biggest operation in our state (besides Chris Dodd) would be Rudy Giuliani, who has received much support from Republican state legislators. Many say he is the only Republican who could carry Connecticut in the general election, and is expected to win the state primary.

It should be interesting to see what comes out of this, as it appears Boughton is going to play a pretty big role for Romney.

Speculation: The Council Races

The race to take control of the Common Council has become something that many people have been watching. Republicans currently hold a 14-7 majority, this is down from the 17-4 majority they had two years ago. The question we need to ask ourselves would have to be: what's going to happen this year?

Well, many can guess the outcome, but it really has become a toss-up. Democrats have made it quite obvious that they are trying to take back control of the Council after a four year absence. They have rallied behind many candidates, for at-large seats as well as ward seats. Personally, I feel the Democrats have the advantage when it comes to doing well with the ward races, while the Republicans may do better at-large.

One Democrat who I see possibly winning at-large is Warren Levy who wants to get back on the Council, along with former member John Gogliettino. However, Republicans have many incumbents and well known candidates running, so I do feel Republicans will keep the majority when it comes to the seven at-large seats. Besides that, it may be tough.

Ward four and five have been Democratic strongholds forever, and I doubt anything will change this year. Ward six went Democrat last election, while the remaining four wards are in Republican control. The first and second wards could become a little competitive, especially the second as the Democrats have two very formidable candidates. Ward seven features Chris Halfar, who has rallied in favor of the "Danbury 11". Depending on whether voters view that as good or bad could be what makes or breaks her outcome.

There is no doubt that ward three is the most exciting of the seven. Democrats have put up Lynn Taborsak to try to overtake Council President Joe Cavo. Now, lucky for the Democrats, Taborsak's name is under Cavo's which makes the race even more interesting (I'll have more on ballot placing and explanation as we get closer to the election). James Kelly is also a valid candidate, and a former member, so he shouldn't be overlooked either.

I have tried to make lists after lists of what could happen with the Council, but it is just to hard. The majority could truly be decided based on the mood of the city at the time. I believe that we'll probably see a trend in the results, determining what happens here. For example, if someone like Pudgie nails out a win, along with Jean Natale, two Republicans locked in tough races, then Republicans have a pretty good shot at keeping the majority. However, if Abrantes has a very good showing, along with the rest of the Democrat's top ticket, then they will likely take control.

We may not know what truly is going to happen until a couple of days before the election, though I'm starting to believe that nobody can make a pretty accurate prediction, and we'll just have to wait until November 6th. Hey, I could be very wrong, who knows? One thing is for sure -- this is going to be a very fun October.