Monday, May 14, 2012
U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy received 76 percent of the delegate vote in Connecticut but his challenger, Susan Bysiewicz, still qualified for a primary to be held in August to settle the party nomination.
Conditions are favorable for U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy to win the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat. Though challenger Susan Bysiewicz won the delegate vote in Stratford, 18-6, Murphy received 76 percent of the statewide delgate vote at the Democratic State Convention on Saturday, according to CT News Junkie. Despite the statewide 3-to-1 vote margin, the vote total for Bysiewicz, the former Secretary of State, is enough to force a primary to be held in August between the two well-known politicians, the article noted. Total vote numbers show Murphy got 1,378 of the delegate votes and Bysiewicz's total was 444. New Haven, one of the largest delegations, gave 73 of its votes to Murphy and 10 to Bysiewicz. "I think we'd be better off …
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
The GOP presidential hopeful gets about 70 percent of the vote in Stratford's Republican presidential primary.
Updated 11 p.m. Stratford voted Mitt Romney its Republican of choice in Tuesday's statewide presidential party primary. The former Massachusetts governor received about 70 percent of the vote in Stratford. Out of 666 total votes cast by registered Republicans in town, 461 went to Romney. The rest of the field: Ron Paul, 80; Newt Gingrich, 76; Rick Santorum, 40. Additionally, nine people voted 'uncommitted.' There are 5,800 active registered Republicans (active meaning has voted in the last four years) in Stratford, which means voter turnout was 11.5 percent. "It was even more lopsided than I thought it would be," said Republican Registrar of Voters Lou Decilio. Statewide, Romney performed similar to the results in Stratford. According to …
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
The current ‘war between women’ pitting Hilary Rosen against Ann Romney is deflecting attention from the true ‘war ON women’ and distracting us from the real question: Who are we voting for?
Editor's note: Please keep an eye out later this week for "Patch Back," a new feature from Lisa Bigelow that will serve as a response piece to certain installments of Heather's "Patch In." The question isn't whether Ann Romney ever 'worked' a day in her whole life, but rather: Does her husband Mitt truly give a rat's ass about anyone -- especially women -- in the 99 percent? This made-up battle between working moms and stay-at-home moms is causing people of every gender to lose focus on more important issues -- namely whether politicians are advocating taking rights from women (like reproductive health choices) or finding ways to penalize them and hold them back (withholding equal pay) or simply having a double standard when it comes to …
Thursday, March 22, 2012
A Quinnipiac poll breaks down the U.S. Senate race and Republican presidential primary.
A Quinnipiac University poll shows Linda McMahon leads former U.S. Rep Christopher Shays by a 51-42 margin, but falters against Democrats compared to her opponent. In the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, U.S. Rep. Christopher Murphy, D-5, leads with 37 of the vote, followed by former Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz with 25 percent and State Rep. William Tong with 4 percent. Polling results for possible November matchups: “Congressman Christopher Shays has narrowed the gap with Linda McMahon from 15 points to 9 points. The question is whether he can catch up by primary day, August 14,” said Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz. “In general election matchups, Shays runs neck and neck with either Congressman …
Friday, February 24, 2012
New and unaffiliated voters can still join the Republican party and cast a vote for their presidential hopeful of choice. Others are out of luck.
The ongoing presidential primaries come to Connecticut on April 24. The Republican candidates will be vying for 28 delegates, with 1,144 needed to outright win the party's presidential nomination. Although the voting is open to Republicans only, there's still time for some people to join the party and vote in the primary. NEW, UNAFFILIATED VOTERS The deadline for voters currently in another party (particularly Democrats) to switch was Jan. 24. However, unaffiliated voters and new voters are eligible to join the Republicans by April 19. New voters include those that never registered to vote before and people who previously registered but moved to a new municipality and have not registered there already. According to the Office of the …
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Republican US Senate hopeful Christopher Shays reacts to the recent spike in gas prices.
A Republican vying for the US Senate seat of retiring Senator Joe Lieberman says gas prices wouldn't be so high if America had more energy independence. "In spite of the fact that we have some of the largest energy deposits in the entire world, we spend an astonishing one billion dollars every single day buying fossil fuel from overseas," Christopher Shays said in a statement. "We need increased energy production here at home," he added. "Let's create energy independence and more American jobs by developing our own vast resources of natural gas and oil." For the Republican nomination, Shays is up against businesswoman Linda McMahon, who, in 2010, lost her bid for a US Senate seat against Democrat Richard Blumenthal. In a recent interview …
Friday, January 27, 2012
Ten-term veteran announces plans to continue serving Stratford in the 121st Assembly District.
State Rep. Terry Backer (D-Stratford) will run for re-election in Stratford's 121st Assembly District, a seat he has held for close to 20 years. After successfully battling brain cancer for more than a year, the 57-year-old lawmaker looks forward to serving the Lordship section and South End for another two-year term. "If I feel as good as I've been feeling come the end of the 2012 legislative session and the good Lord keeps me here, I'm running," Backer said in a statement. "I feel blessed and have more work to accomplish." Backer began serving Stratford in January 1993. During these last 19 years, he also maintained his role as the Long Island Soundkeeper, his main job and passion outside the legislature. Backer will be celebrating his…
Thursday, January 26, 2012
The former congressman made his announcement in Hartford on Wednesday.
Christopher Shays Wednesday officially announced he is a candidate for the United States Senate, seeking the Republican nomination to fill retiring Senator Joe Lieberman's seat. Though the official announcement was made in Hartford, Shays' campaign headquarters is located in Stratford, at the William Samuel Johnson House, 2103 Main St. Shays, a Republican, represented Connecticut's 4th District for 11 terms from 1987 to 2009. He was defeated by Congressman Jim Himes, a Democrat, in 2008. Speaking in Hartford, Shays said he would make it a number one priority to balance the federal budget, according to a press release sent by his campaign. "When I am elected to the United States Senate, I will sponsor legislation that balances the budget …
Saturday, November 12, 2011
After Connecticut's local elections come and go with political changes on both sides, the parties look to the big 2012 elections.
In Milford, a Democrat took city hall for the first time in 22 years. In East Haven, a Republican eked out the incumbent by 31 votes. Victories from all over the state were claimed on Nov. 8, and both political parties are auguring their fortunes from the results. “These [elections] that happen locally are often indicative of larger trends,” said Eric Hyers, executive director of the Democratic Party of Connecticut. “I think you can view [the results for Democrats] in great confidence moving into a presidential year. We’re very excited about some of the towns we were able to win.” As expected, Democrats won mayoral elections in the biggest cities, but also claimed spots in cities like New Britain and Middletown. Hyers said the party’s hold…
Friday, November 11, 2011
Stratford Republican candidates performed strong in the 2011 municipal election.
In short, Stratford Republicans had a good day yesterday. Tuesday's 2011 municipal election saw the Republican Party increase its 6-4 majority on the Town Council to an 8-2 advantage, and both of the Grand Old Party’s Board of Education candidates were elected, which means they retained their 5-3 majority on the school board. "We've made a lot of difficult decisions in the last two years," said Christian Barnaby, an incumbent Republican who beat Mary Young for 1st District Town Council, 561-513. "We have put a lot of good things in motion and they want to see it come to fruition." Only 20.3 percent of registered voters in Stratford voted on Election Day this year. That's down from 26.6 percent in the 2007 municipal election, according to …
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6:41 am on Wednesday, April 25, 2012
I'm so disgusted with each party that I am now independent, after many years of belonging with one political group. The primary is one thing, the real votes for all of us to cast are this fall! more ›