Senator-elect Rob D. Russo of Bridgeport was elected by an almost 2-1 margin over Democrat Thomas Mulligan tonight to fill out the remaining months of now-Mayor Bill Finch’s term in the Connecticut State Senate.  The decisive victory grows the Senate Republican Caucus to thirteen members and breaks the Democratic Supermajority in the Connecticut General Assembly. 

Russo mustered 3639 votes to Mr. Mulligan’s 2215 in the contest.  Russo polled strongly in Trumbull and Monroe, and did much better than expected in Bridgeport, winning at least one precinct and coming within two votes of victory in another.  The win was well-earned, as Mr. Russo and his campaign team spent the last weeks waging an aggressive door-to-door campaign in conjunction with a strong telephone outreach program and direct mail effort.  The third time clearly was the charm for Russo, as the victory comes on the heels of two narrow defeats to then-incumbent Bill Finch in 2004 and 2006.

More broadly, “Lucky 13″ breaks the Democratic supermajority in the Connecticut General Assembly and fully restores the Constitutional power of the Governor’s veto.  The Democrats had previously held 24 of the 36 seats in the Senate and continue to hold 107 of the 151 seats in the House of Representatives.  It is also worthy of mention that Connecticut Republicans are 3-3 in special elections this cycle, after posting a decisive victory in Shelton’s 113th House District in October and then a similiar win in the 32nd Senate District in January.

Unofficial numbers:

Russo (R) - 3639

Mulligan (D) - 2215

More to come
“Blogging by Blackberry”

We’ll be bringing you the view from the 22nd Senate District Special Election tonight as it happens. Republican Rob Russo is squaring off against Democrat Thomas Mulligan to fill out Mayor Bill Finch’s term in the Senate.

The ‘blog by email’ is spotty at times, occassionally resulting in gibberish instead of an update. Bear with us and we’ll make it work.
“Blogging by Blackberry”

Governor M. Jodi Rell has thrown her support behind State Senator David Cappiello’s bid to unseat freshman Congressman Chris Murphy in November.  Yesteday, Rell joined Cappiello at a fundraiser at Canterbury School in New Milford. 

The News-Times reports Rell remarked “He’s one of the hardest working and most dedicated persons I’ve ever met.  I’m proud to stand here with you and wish you all the best.”

Cappiello had a notable group of people attending he event to offer their support as well:

They included Mayor Pat Murphy, Danbury Probate Judge Dianne Yamin, Roxbury First Selectman Barbara Henry, and Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton’s chief of staff Michael McLachlan, a Republican who announced his intentions last week to seek his party’s endorsement for Cappiello’s state Senate seat.

North Canaan’s Tony Nania, who is also seeking the Republican nomination, will be holding a fundraiser soon too.  But that won’t be in Connecticut.  It will be in New York with former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton.

The most over-used word in the English language on this day? 

Shocked. 

Why is this?  Because the liberal media types in Manhattan were shocked! to learn that their Governor, Eliot Spitzer - a Crusader against rich white men, a fighter of corruption and greed and slayer of pestilent greed - was embroiled in a tawdry sex scandal as “Client #9″.  As you know by now, the story is that Gov. Spitzer paid a prostitute $4300 for a tryst in Washington, D.C. and “future meetings”.  The ring of prostitutes was exposed by a federal investigation into the matter, which may well have caught Spitzer himself on a wiretap.  After the news broke in the afternoon, the Gov. went to the podium and made some amorphous comments  about regaining the trust of his family.  His attractive wife stood next to him, which surely must have made the Spitzer’s security detail very nervous.

The whole business left liberal analysts gazing at their collective navel, distraught that such a lion of their ilk could do something so egregious.  Almost immediately, this notion turned into a search for the psychological reasons for this ‘tragic’ event.  The article that ran on the front page of the Courant this morning proffered this:

Why do otherwise smart, successful people do such risky things? For psychologists and political analysts who found themselves dissecting the Spitzer story, it was a question of the chicken or the egg: In such situations, does the risky behavior precede the powerful job? Or does something about being in power cause the behavior?

Let the Great Pondering begin.  This from a group of people who were able to ignore Spitzer’s holier-than-thou attitude and his oft-noted arrogance because he was willing to implement the liberal view of the world, which tears down anyone daring enough to pursue personal financial incentives and private enterprise.  But how could someone so seemingly dedicated to this Cause commit such a mortal sin?  He was so pure and smart - not like those heretical Republicans.  We must continue to investigate until we come up with an educated person - a psychologist! - who will tell us:

“In order to be in such a high-profile position, you have to believe that what you are doing is innately right,” said Renana Brooks, of Washington, D.C. “Anything that isn’t right, you may blot out. You can’t be tortured by guilt or indifference. It’s just virtually impossible to function at this high a level without limiting the amount of introspection you can do.”

There, you see? The problem is not that Spitzer was a sanctimonious SOB or that he paid $4300 to sleep with a prostitute, it’s that he believed too much in himself.  He “limited the amount of introspection he could do”.

If this was a Republican politician, the Hartford Courant and the rest of the newspapers across the country would not be analyzing the psychological deficiencies of the person on the front page.  They would - quite rightly - attempt to drive a stake through his heart.

A week ago, we featured our In-State Tuition for Illegal Immigrants petition on this page as well as on The Republican Heard, the weekly e-newsletter of the Connecticut Republican Party.  Since that time, more than 700 residents of Connecticut have signed the petition, clearly showing the opposition that exists in Connecticut to this measure.

In 2007, the Democrat Supermajority rammed the bill through the General Assembly and onto the Governor’s desk.  Gov. Rell vetoed the bill and sent it back.  Though their Party was in possession of the 2/3 majority necessary, moderate Democrats broke ranks and made the veto override impossible. 

Bridgeport Democrat Felipe Reinoso re-introduced the bill in 2008 and is pushing for action to be taken on the issue.  Speaker Jim Amann has the power to decide what happens to the measure - will it die without ever coming to the floor or is it acted upon by the House of Representatives?  CTGOP is asking Speaker Amann to keep it off the table.  714 people have signed their name to that petition so far.

We will spend the next week promoting this petition and encouraging people to sign it, before sending a copy to the Speaker’s office.

If you are interested, please feel free to click the link above and sign your name to the petition.