A New Mayoral Candidate

The race for Mayor just got an addition to it. John McGowan announced yesterday that he is running for the spot on the Concerned Citizens line. He believes that both Republicans and Democrats don't have the right vision and only argue, while getting nothing done. McGowan says that he is the best candidate to bring change. You can read the article here.

McGowan has received much criticism because he lives in Bethel. He does plan to move to Danbury before Election Day, November 6th. The other candidates for Mayor, incumbent Mark Boughton and challenger Helena Abrantes said that they welcome him into the race. However, Boughton added that it is "absolutely absurd" for him to run because he doesn't live in the city.

The race for Mayor has not gained much attention so far, so this may be just the type of thing that could bring some life to it. Who knows? It's now up to the voters to decide.

Bush Makes Predictions

President Bush has made a prediction, and it is that he feels Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee for President. He also said that Republicans will prevail in the end, and beat her in a hard, tough battle. You can read it here.

Bush said that the reason Clinton will be nominated is because the race has become a national primary, and she has national appeal. He also noted his surprise that Rudy Giuliani has consistently remained the front runner on the Republican side, despite his moderate views on social issues, but said that it is probably because terrorism is such an important issue to voters. Giuliani has basically made terrorism his main issue in the campaign. Bush mentioned that John McCain should not be counted out either, as he is able to mount a comeback.

Overall a very interesting article regarding the President's views. The only question I wonder is who Bush wants to get the Republican nomination, and succeed him?

Mayoral Race

I'm a couple of days late on these stories but I still felt that I should post on them.

First, the Danbury Democrats believe that there should be a new moderator for the debate between Mayor Mark Boughton and challenger Helena Abrantes. They feel that the current moderator, Fran Collins, has connections to Boughton and has helped him during the campaign. You can read the article here from the News-Times.

Secondly, both mayoral candidates have said that they agree on having a public hearing on a possible electrical power plant in the city. You can read it here.

It's nice to see the News-Times starting to cover the election. Hopefully this will continue.

Another Congressional Candidate

Congressman Chris Murphy has another opponent. Harold Burbank II has announced his intention to run for the fifth district seat. You can read the article here from the News-Times.

Burbank said the reason he has decided to run is because of lies and abuse of the constitution by the Bush administration. He says Murphy should call for the impeachment of President Bush. If Murphy does, Burbank said he will not run. However, Murphy has mentioned that he has no intention of supporting impeachment.

According to Burbank, the Green Party has approached him to run on their ticket, however he hasn't made a decision. Republican State Senator David Cappiello is also running for Congress. Cappiello, who announced back in April, is expected to be the only Republican candidate running.

I'm not sure how much can be taken from this announcement, however I believe that Burbank could hurt Murphy a little. This could get interesting.

Speculation: The Town Clerk's Race

Earlier this year many people, including myself, thought that Democratic Town Clerk Lori Kaback would have a fairly easy ride to re-election. Many believed that the Republicans would basically surrender the seat, and focus their attention to keeping the other top three offices, especially City Clerk. This was not the case.

The Republicans got a former Democrat and Kaback supporter to run for Town Clerk. Not to mention that she is a very well known lady in our city, being President of D.A.Y.O. Pudgie Delohery is exactly the type of person the Republicans needed to run for the spot, and they should be very happy to have her on their team. She is simply known as "Pudgie!", and yes the explanation mark is included.

I have given the Republicans a lot of praise for their candidate choice mainly because of her popularity and the fact that she knows a wide range of people. Despite this, it wasn't until about two weeks ago until I actually saw my whole analysis truly carried out. It was at the Taste of Danbury, where for the first time I saw the public, not the politicians, showing me that this race is going to be the most interesting.

The amount of advertising that was around that Saturday night was amazing. So many people had either stickers or shirts for Pudgie, or they had Kaback stickers or balloons. Now, yes the other races had a big impact of what was seen throughout the event, but this race just stood out from the rest. Almost every single cheerleader had a sticker for Pudgie on, and so many teenagers had shirts on for her, which gave Pudgie a very good showing. Yes, I know, kids can't vote, but their parents can and people like to see a candidate that has good student-educational appeal (though it has really no relevance to what the Town Clerk does). Now, don't get me wrong, Kaback had a very good showing as well, and that's why this race is so intense because both candidates are very closely matched.

Back when the Republicans announced their slate, I believed that they would go out in full force to gain the Town Clerk's seat. However, that was not the case for the many weeks that followed. It appeared to me that maybe this wouldn't be a very good race, and that Kaback would easily win. This was mainly because Kaback had a very strong showing throughout the summer, and Pudgie was really nowhere in sight. She has come back though, and is making an impact. Ever since earlier this month, she has showed that she is in this to win.

The only question I ask is should Pudgie of started earlier? Also, will Kaback be able to bring the magic she brought two years ago? We will soon find out. This is going to be a very good one to watch!

UPDATE (9/29/07): Pudgie has put up a website and Kaback also has one up. The links are on the side.

Poll Results

The latest poll question was if you have decided on a specific candidate to support for President. Here are the results:

Yes: 9 (47%)
No: 12 (53%)

Thanks for voting. This is sure going to be one of the best elections we will ever see, no matter who the candidates are. By the way, who do you want to see face each other in 2008? Rudy vs. Hillary? Obama vs. McCain? Romney vs. Hillary? Thompson vs. Edwards? Obama vs. Romney? Rudy vs. Obama? Hey maybe even Chris Dodd vs. Sam Brownback (just kidding).


Make sure to take our new poll.

Follow Up On "Danbury 11"

Yesterday, we reported that two candidates running for the Common Council this year went to Hartford on Monday to rally in favor of the eleven illegal immigrants who who were arrested a year ago. Today Republicans running in the third ward against Lynn Taborsak, spoke out. Here is the article from the News-Times.

The following are some main points from the article.

Council President Joe Cavo said the following on the issue:

"I just find it outrageous that someone running for office would be out there supporting people breaking our laws."

Councilman Mike Coladrino said the following on the immigration issue:

"When I first ran in 2003, illegal immigration was a big campaign issue. It was big in 2005, and from what I'm hearing when I go door to door, it's still a big issue in 2007."

Danbury Democratic Chairman Joe DaSilva had the following to say on Taborsak and the issue of illegal immigration:

"People can agree that laws need to be enforced, and they can disagree on how this case was handled. Lynn Taborsak has a long career in Danbury of helping people."

Let's just say that this issue is likely to come up again throughout the next few weeks. Could this really make or break a certain candidate? Could Lynn Taborsak really be in trouble? Will people really care? What's going to happen? Look for a post speculating this in the next couple of days.