There is more news coming out of the 22nd Senate District today in the wake of Rob Russo’s big victory yesterday.  Consider this the round up:

Connecticut Local Politics: Genghis Conn has his map up which shows how Russo fared in the three towns.  It doesn’t do justice to the margins in Bridgeport.

Only in Bridgeport: Simply summed up with the title, Russo Kicks Butt.  The contest for Bridgeport Democrat Town Committee Chair will only get more competitive in the wake of the defeat.

MyLeftNutmeg: Two fun things from the good folks over at MLN.  In a post entitled “The Unreliable Ally” the author characterizes Senator-elect Rob Russo as a “Healyite”.  To quote:

I bring this up tonight because, while the “unreliable ally” argument isn’t going away anytime soon, the special election that’s happening tonight is an excellent lesson that a reliable ally isn’t necessarily called upon to support every candidate. Mulligan – who’s a pretty good guy with a truckload more honesty and honor than the disgraceful Healyite Rob Russo – is quite likely going to lose tonight, and he was, for all intents and purposes, fed to the wolves.

The other fun thing from MLN is the casting of blame for last night’s defeat, pinning some of it on Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch.  Chairman Healy keeps a clipping on his bulletin board, “Six Phases of a Project”.  It lists the following:

1. Enthusiasm
2. Disillusionment
3. Panic & Hysteria
4. Search for the Guilty
5. Punishment of the Innocent
6. Praise and Honor for the Non-Participants

I would say that the folks at MLN are somewhere between Phase 4 and 5 at this point.

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.

It has been a little while since we mentioned the yeoman’s effort being put forth by Republican Senate candidate Rob Russo in the 22nd District special election.  After Senator/Mayor Finch finally resigned his seat, 2006 candidate Rob Russo stepped up to again wage a campaign for 22nd District seat.  Since that time, he has been running a positive campaign about the issues that matter - affordability, taxes, and private property rights. 

Last week, he filed his paperwork with the State Elections Enforcement Commission to qualify for the Citizens’ Election Program - marking the third special election in a row where the Republican candidate has been better organized than the Democratic opponent.

Russo has his website up and running, featuring the standard campaign website fare - biography, issues, and volunteer recruitment.  And Russo’s call centers are making the phone calls that will deliver the big win on March 11.  Russo’s opponent will be Democrat Tom Mulligan, who is a former City Councilor and Town Clerk in Bridgeport.

The Sunshine State, Florida, will be at the center of attention this evening as we find out who Floridians chose when they went to the polls and, God willing, correctly voted for their preferred Presidential candidate. The Republican contest has grown strident in the past few days, as perceived frontrunners Mitt Romney and John McCain duke it out.  We’ll be covering the results here at The Everyday Republican as soon as we get them.

Over at the “big site“, we’ve put together a new feature page for 22nd Senate District candidate Rob Russo.  A win in this special election will make Russo “Lucky 13″ in the Senate Republican Caucus, break the Democratic supermajority in the General Assembly, and give Governor M. Jodi Rell the full power of the veto once again.  This is a race of statewide importance and we’ll be following the race closely as Mr. Russo as he tries represent Bridgeport, Trumbull, and Monroe in the Senate.  The special election to replace Senator/Mayor Bill Finch will be on March 11th.

And finally, we are going to try a new feature on February 5th to track the winners, losers, and all-important delegate counts as the results from “Super Tuesday” come in and shed light on who each Party will nominate to be President of the United States.  We’ll release more details on that soon.

Rob Russo of Bridgeport was nominated this evening to be the Republican candidate in the 22nd Senate District, to fill the seat of Senator/Mayor Bill Finch, who reluctantly resigned his post as Senator last week.  Rob ran in 2004 and 2006, coming within 2,500 votes of the heavily-entrenched Bill Finch.

 Russo, 32, lives in Bridgeport and practices law in Southport.  According to his biography, Mr. Russo has a wide range of interests and activities, from serving on the Board of Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo to being a licensed private pilot.