Republicans across the state will be gathering this week to nominate delegates to the May nominating conventions.  According to the Secretary of the State’s Election Calendar, delegates must be nominated between March 25th and April 1st.  The list of delegates must be reported to the local Town Clerk by 4pm on April 2nd.

Here is how the process works:  Each Republican Town Committee has Bylaws which spell out how delegates are chosen.  Some towns use the caucus method - that is, all registered Republicans in the town are notified via a public notice in the local newspaper that there will be a caucus of registered Republicans in town.  The caucus is open to all registered Republicans, not just Town Committee members.  At the caucus, a slate of delegates is nominated to represent the town at the various conventions - U.S. Congress, State Senate, and Assembly Districts made up of multiple towns.  If the nomination has a second voice of support, then it goes to a vote of the caucus.  Other towns nominate their delegates via a special meeting of the Republican Town Committee.  The only difference at this meeting from the caucus is - of course - only Republican Town Committee members are allowed to vote.  The nominations are usually done by RTC is large towns where assembling a caucus would be unwieldy.

 You can find out how many delegates are allocated to each town by clicking here and finding the name of your town in the list.  Note that there are three lists on this page - one for Congressional delegations, one for State Senate delegations, and one for State House delegations.  The delegate allocations are determined by formula, as spelled out in the Connecticut Republican State Party Bylaws, Article III, Section 2(a).  One delegate is awarded to a town for every 750 votes, or fraction thereof, received by the Republican candidate for Governor in the most recent election, plus 1 delegate if the Governor received a plurality of votes from that town.  Thus, to determine how many delegates must attend the conventions from each town, you use the following formula:

(# of votes for Governor Rell in 2006 / 750 ) + 1 delegate if Gov. Rell won the town = # of Delegates

Example:  If you were to get your money’s worth out of the Secretary of the State’s new website, you’d learn that the Governor received 924 votes in the Eastern Connecticut town of Andover.  Andover receives one delegate for the first 750 votes, one delegate for the remaining fraction, and one delegate because Gov. Rell’s 924 votes resoundingly defeated John DeStefano’s 510 votes.  Add it all up and Andover is sending three delegates to the 2nd Congressional District Convention, three delegates to the 19th Senatorial District convention, and three delegates to State Representative Pam Sawyer’s 55th State House District Convention.

Each of the conventions for the U.S. Congress will be held on Saturday, May 10, 2008.  The State Senate Conventions will be on Tuesday, May 13, Thursday, May 15th for the multi-town State House districts, and the week of May 20-27 for the Single Town Assembly Districts.

Last night, I had the honor of attending the Portland Republican Town Committee at the local Legion Hall.  The hall had fall in disrepair until the committee approached its owners and offered to help fix it up.

Now, the building is bright and clean with a fresh coat of paint inside and out. There are various pictures and plaques honoring those who have served and fallen from Portland adorning the walls.

The meeting was clearly the biggest ticket in town Monday night at at 7:3o p.m. Almost every member of the Portland RTC was in attendance including chairmen and friends from Cromwell and East Hampton.

Portland’s energetic and focused chairman,Cindy Varricchio, believes in working as a team, especially in drafting candidates for legislative offices. Rather than allow intra-town rivalries to occur, Varricchio is seeking  cooperation with the neighboring towns in the candidate review process.

The committee has other activities planned in the community in the coming weeks to register new voters, raise money and to promote candidates for the state House, Senate and Congress. 

The  rest of the business meeting was brisk and to the point. 1st District Congressional candidate Joe Visconti spoke and told one questioner he was an ardent supporter of the Second Amendment. Visconti of West Hartford, said he has had a license to carry a gun for 20 years and thinks other law abiding people should, too. The crowd went wild.

Commissioners from various boards and committees gave their reports and offered pertinent insights.

By 8:15 p.m. - the committee was done and they broke up for some food and drink. It was fun. That’s what politics should be - full of purpose and fun.

After a long run of mediocrity, the Connecticut Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz has a new campaign website up.  You can check it out by clicking here.

 The new website features more streamlined navigation menus, soft shades of blue, and a copious amount of Susan Bysiewicz photographs.  The main page features rotating images - Secretary Bysiewicz with kids, speaking to firefighters at a podium, shaking hands with the troops - all the standard campaign website Secretary of the State’s website fare.  Soon, the site will even feature a page for kids to learn about life in the always-exciting Secretary of the State’s office. 

In case you were burning to know just what SotS Bysieciwz is up to this week, complete with summaries and photos, you can visit the Week in Review section.  You can also read one of the many musings of the Secretary in the Latest News section.  For example, the Secretary is concerned that the State’s Boards and Commissions do not feature enough African-Americans, Women, and Latinos.

The Secretary’s website will certainly strengthen her bid for Attorney General efforts to improve the flow of communication between the voters people of Connecticut and their duly elected Attorney General Secretary of the State.

It is time for Republicans across this great country to get off the beach. We had our Dunkirk was 2006 and we got away somewhat bloodied and discouraged. But that was one Election and we had it coming because of reckless spending and getting too comfortable in our over-stuffed chairs.

A story in the Politico bemoaned the affairs of state Republican organization in New York and California who are in debt and seem lost as to how to right the ship.

Here in Connecticut, we can argue, we have got our groove back.

The “Fighting 44″in the House and Gov. Rell stopped the Democrats in their tracks last year when they tried to jam another $1 billion down the taxpayers throats.

In the 2007 municipal elections, Republicans held most of the big Mayor’s contests -Torrington, Norwalk, Middletown, Danbury and took command of town halls in towns long held by Democrats like Enfield, East Haddam, Vernon, Manchester, Newington, Winsted and East Hampton.

Republicans have won the last three special Legislative elections in 113th House, 32nd Senate and most recently, the 22nd Senate, ending the Democrat’s veto-proof majority.

Fundraising is steady, building each day as supporters see Republicans are returning to their basic tenants of smaller government, less taxes and public safety.

In March, the State Democrats raised $18,000 in their federal account while Republicans raised $50,000.

We are drawing the distinctions every day, no more so than the recent debate on whether career criminals should be put behind bars for keeps.

The Democrats are reverting to their old script by calling for more taxes, regulations and dismissing a “three strikes” provision to sentencing violent criminals.

Candidates are coming forward to run for the House and Senate with a new sense of purpose and energy. Gov. Rell has drawn the line again against any tax increase and the public rewards her with much deserved high approval ratings.

The voters are listening to our message. All it takes is hard work, staying positive and not quiting.

The battle for Connecticut is on and we are winning.

How did a handful of anti-war protestors celebrate Easter in Chicago?  

They disrupted Easter Mass (h/t RedState).

Six Iraq war protesters disrupted an Easter Mass on Sunday, shouting and squirting fake blood on themselves and parishioners in a packed auditorium.Three men and three women startled the crowd during Cardinal Francis George’s homily, yelling “Even the Pope calls for peace” as they were removed from the Mass by security guards and ushers.

. . . Turns out its over.

So says The Politico:

One big fact has largely been lost in the recent coverage of the Democratic presidential race: Hillary Rodham Clinton has virtually no chance of winning.

I’m glad we’ve resolved that little issue.  Check out the article though - it’s a good read.

It’s still a work in progress, but take a sneak peek at our nifty new reference map that we’ll be integrating into our websites over the next couple of weeks.

Click here!

 When completed, the map will feature a link to each town’s Republican Town Committee website (where applicable), the name and contact information for the Republican Town Committee Chair, and the name of the McCain for President Coordinator in town.  This map will be a key reference point for anyone trying to find out how to get in touch with their Republican Town Committee or the local McCain effort.

 It’s still in its very rough stages of course, but it should be an excellent addition to the website.