It is still early – really early, as a matter of fact – but still Congressional challengers are emerging to take on the entrenched Democratic incumbents all across Connecticut.  Former Executive Director of the CT Office of Military Affairs Justin Bernier announced his candidacy for the Fifth Congressional District seat this morning at an announcement event in Farmington while in the Second District, Republican activist Matt Daly announced his candidacy over last weekend.

More than fifty people gathered this morning at the Farmington Senior and Community Center on New Britain Avenue to listen to the announcement speech from the 33 year old Naval Intelligence Officer.  In his speech, Bernier spoke about the perilous state of the economy, and the misguided attempts to fix it that have been made to this point:

People in Farmington and New Britain are concerned about out-of-control spending. People in Waterbury and Cheshire are mad at incumbents who treat trillions of dollars like pocket change. People in Danbury think the current plan for recovery disagrees with the laws of economics; and they are certain that it disagrees with plain old Connecticut common sense.

The speech was well received by the crowd and all seemed enthused by the prospect.  The Bernier for Congress website is located at www.bernierforcongress.org.  It will be operational shortly.

In the Big Deuce, former CT State Senate candidate Matthew Daly announced that he would be running for Congress last weekend.  He’ll be taking on the perpetually bland Rep. Joe Courtney.  Daly is a hard campaigner and a personable fellow, so he should be able to run laps around the incumbent Congressman. From Ted Mann’s blog:

“With our economy in the tank, banks failing, and unemployment climbing, the residents of Connecticut are justified in asking just what kind of representation we are getting in Washington,” Daly said, in an e-mail announcing his campaign sent to reporters over the weekend. “Chris Dodd is in the spotlight, but he should be sharing it with Joe Courtney.”

Competing in these races is a difficult challenge made more so by the need to raise so much money to be competitive.  Candidates that announce now will need to spend the next 586 days raising the funds necessary to run television advertisements, buy campaign placards, and otherwise promote their candidacy.  But with people growing increasingly frustrated with the current Administration and their lackeys in Congress, these candidates early preparations could well lay the groundwork for an impressive November 2010.