The results from The Republican Heard newsletter survey:

Which Presidential candidate are you currently supporting?
Mayor Rudy Giuliani
131
31.5%

Gov. Mitt Romney
61
14.7%

Gov. Mike Huckabee
18
4.3%

Senator John McCain
33
7.9%

Senator Sam Brownback
6
1.4%

Rep. Duncan Hunter
3
0.7%

Rep. Ron Paul
14
3.4%

Sen. Fred Thompson
95
22.8%

Rep. Tom Tancredo
1
0.2%

Alan Keyes
1
0.2%

Other
29
7.0%

How committed are you to that candidate?
Strongly - Will Not Change
78
18.8%

Somewhat - Probably Will Not Change
161
38.7%

Leaning - Could Change
122
29.3%

Soft - Probably Will Change
7
1.7%

Uncommitted/Undecided
23
5.5%

What issue is most important to you as you consider the 2008 Presidential election?
War in Iraq
42
10.1%

War on Terrorism
117
28.1%

Foreign Affairs
9
2.2%

Homeland Security
34
8.2%

Government Spending
54
13.0%

Immigration
56
13.5%

Health Care
16
3.8%

Education
3
0.7%

Ethics
14
3.4%

Taxes
34
8.2%

Transportation
2
0.5%

Social Security/Medicare
7
1.7%

How much attention do you pay to the Presidential campaigns?
I spend 5 hours or more each week considering the Presidential campaigns
99
23.8%
I spend between 3 and 5 hours per week on the Presidential campaigns
77
18.5%
I spend between 1 and 3 hours per week focusing on the Presidential campaigns?
116
27.9%
I spend less than one hour each week on the campaigns
82
19.7%
I do not pay attention to the campaigns
18
4.3%

Which Democrat Presidential candidate do you think will win the Democratic nomination?
Sen. Hillary Clinton
297
71.4%
Sen. Barack Obama
47
11.3%
Sen. Chris Dodd
5
1.2%
Sen. John Edwards
24
5.8%
Sen. Joe Biden
2
0.5%
Gov. Bill Richardson
3
0.7%
Rep. Dennis Kucinich
2
0.5%
Sen. Mike Gravel
0
0.0%

Do you visit the websites of Presidential candidates?
Yes
124
29.8%
No
268
64.4%

Chris Caruso is sick and tired of the results in Bridgeport’s Democratic primary and he isn’t going to take it anymore. Caruso has filed a lawsuit to challenge the election results. He commented at the time that Bridgeport’s election was comparable to one in a third world country.

Hillary Clinton continues to be strong in the polls for the Democrats. Last week 71% of surveyed recipients of The Republican Heard thought that Hillary would be the nominee. Looks like plenty of people agree.

In New Hampshire, the Republican Presidential contest has tightened dramatically.

An anonymous commenter was concerned about my command of the English language. I refer them to the below highlights from the movie “Zoolander”.

You don’t hear that much about Connecticut’s Lieutenant Governor, Michael Fedele of Stamford. It doesn’t get in the press much when he goes on one of his town tours, wherein he comes to town and says hello to the Mayor/First Selectman, walks through local businesses, visits the schools, or holds office hours to meet with regular folks. But he does catch attention when he shows up to rain on Senate Democrat Leader Don Williams’ parade.

In a quite well written Ted Mann piece, The Day’s political reporter details the look on the face of Senator Williams as the Lt. Governor shows up: “Williams kept right on talking, but his eyes widened slightly as a silver-haired man in a spotless black suit emerged from the car and took his place between a pair of reporters.”

Mann continues and quotes the LG: “We’ve never seen a bonding package that had everything in it plus the kitchen sink,” Fedele said. “Clearly, that was an act by the Democratic leadership to dare the governor to veto this bill. The issue is affordability. The issue is not hospitals. The issue is not transportation. The issue is not funding education. The issue is the earmarks.”

The Lt. Gov is a man to underestimate at your peril. He is articulate and smooth, like a political Tony Bennett. Showing up at an opposing press conference and stealing their thunder is an old school move. Fedele took the fight to the Democrats and held them to account for the pet project express that is the bond package.

Drips and dribbles this morning across the state with the news…

Representative Mike Alberts, a man for all seasons, is running for the Board of Selectmen in Woodstock, in addition to his other duties.

Connecticut’s kids know how to read good

No more energy aid to illegal immigrants, so sayeth Dick Blumenthal. And apparently, they are actually going to check to see if people are lying on their applications now. Actually reading the documentation generated for the State seems to be in fashion now. Someday, perhaps all of the information created by the State of Connecticut bureaucracy will find someone to care for it. Perhaps they could start an adoption program for Official Government Documents That No One Has Read But Someone Probably Should.

After French President Sarkozy makes a tough speech, Ahmadinejad says the “nuclear issue is over”. Glad we don’t have to worry about that one anymore…

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign offered the public the opportunity to create the next ad for the Romney campaign. Now, you get to vote for your favorite of the top nine ads.

The story of the day was the speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the students and faculty at Columbia University. It started with a bang, as Columbia President Lee Bollinger lambasted the Iranian leader for many of his statements - on denying the Holocaust, nuclear weapons, supporting Hezbollah, supplying the weapons that kill American soldiers and innocent Iraqis in Iraq, and calling for the destruction of Israel.

Ahmadinejad seemed, through the television lens, to be as much amused by the introduction as he was insulted. Indeed, one could see how he reveled in - what he certainly viewed as - the irrational media pressure applied to Bollinger as a win for Ahmadinejad - allowing him to appear the rational, decent one and Bollinger to be the brusque, insulting Westerner. In Ahmadinejad’s view, Bollinger played into the Iranian leader’s hand. In the view of many Westerners, Bollinger gave him a small fraction of what he deserved.

The text of Mahmoud’s speech was relatively banal in nature, waxing farsi-cal about knowledge and the nature of learning. He is also prone to hyperbole about how fantastic things are in Iran, not unlike political incumbents in any nation, but his takes on a far-fetched quality - perhaps the messenger, perhaps the message.

The real action was in the question and answer session. He obfuscated on the Holocaust denials, suggesting the need for “more research”, as though the question was not yet answered and framing his answer in such a way as to suggest that anyone seeking to adopt a measure of certainty as an anti-intellectual. It is a clever and wholly dishonest way of dismissing evil, especially when in the next breath he is happy to cast 60 years of blame on Israel and the United States.

One of the most notable and revealing portions of the Q & A was when Mahmoud asserted that there “were no homosexuals” in his country. Not surprising, since it is illegal in Iran and you can be executed for it. A great day for freedom of speech, indeeed.

The Iranian President showed both why we should listen to him - he is a politician aggressively making a play for attention on the world stage - and why we should never be confused as to the side of gap - between free people and repressive regimes - on which Ahmadinejad resides. He is the international mouthpiece for a regime that represses gays, cloaks women, engages in the intellectual dishonesty of trumpeting some history while ignoring or denying the rest, and most significantly, attempts to fool people into believing not what they see but what they hear.

If there is a great shame to the West, it is that we cannot seem to muster a single politician to stand on the same stage next to this man and show the world just what he is and what he represents.

Redstate has the anti-thesis to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Columbia University.