Only Our Own Need Apply. Democratic Establishment Tries to Shut Down Race for Murphy.
Connecticut’s congressional delegation isn’t interested in a diverse race for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate. Senate hopeful Congressman Christopher Murphy is ballyhooing endorsements today from his four Democratic colleagues. The announcement, billed as the biggest development of the campaign so far, will come as a blow to former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, Murphy’s only announced rival for the nomination.
State Representative William Tong (D-Stamford) told WFSB’s Dennis House that he’s taking a serious look at making a bid for the Senate nomination for the seat being vacated 4 term incumbent Joseph Lieberman. A tong candidacy would not be good news for the Murphy camp as it tries to nudge the faltering Bysiewicz out of the race and claim the prize early. Tong is well-connected, as ambitious as Murphy (which is saying something), and a dogged campaigner who has secured a Republican seat in the legislature.
Former State Treasurer Frank Borges is also said to be getting closer to making an announcement. The wealthy financier would add some ideological and ethnic diversity to the race.
Connecticut Democratic Senate nominations have been the preserve of white men since 1976. Establishment Democrats like U.S. Representatives Larson, Courtney, DeLauro, and Himes want one of their own and do nothing to encourage a rigorous race for the nomination with their early endorsement.
5 comments
The Democratic Party successfully shut out Merrick Alpert in 2010. Some town committees did not even allow him to speak at their meetings. The chance of Mr. Tong getting the same treatment is great.
For Democrats, it’s never competency that matters. It’s purely power politics. In the end, the citizens of Connecticut get what they deserve!
I’m not really enamored with Murphy but I really don’t think that this is about Tong or Borges, who are intriguing but not all that well positioned to run for Senate and win. For better or worse neither of them are statewide names at the moment and Murphy’s a proven campaigner and fundraiser. For them to be competitive they would have to already be fundraising and campaigning given their disadvantage in terms of name rec and money. This seems really like a cold hard calculation about electoral viability more than anything else (I’d assume their overriding priority is to keep the seat Democratic).
It’s terrible that the DC reps are trying to shut out any diversity in the Democratic party — disgusting. Shame on those Reps, especially Rosa. I am truly shocked.
kevin…the rush to endorse has nothing to do with the delegation mindfully stopping a diverse primary race as it has to do with getting a field cleared so that Murphy can concentrate on the probable Republican nominee,Linda McMahon who of course will be self-funding.I believe that personalities also come into play here as Sue B has a certain reputation for being abit,shall we say mean and has not built up any positive relationships with the congressional folks or with the constitutional officers who endorsed Murphy.If Sue B was a white man with the same personality and political history for instance, I think the resulting actions within my party would have been very much the same.
Pretty good response here:
http://www.myleftnutmeg.com/diary/13519/come-on-kevin-you-cannot-be-serious