Goodbye to 2010

Like a gut-shot caribou, the Year 2010 staggers out bleeding, making way for what I hope will be a better 2011.

Not holding out much hope, though...


We all know who the really big winners were this year. Those people who own places like this:

Somehow the wealthiest 2% of the nation managed to keep the ridiculous Bush tax giveaways for at LEAST another two years; which will obviously be permanent, because there's no way Congress will ever fail to renew it.

It still staggers my imagination that we spent the entire 1990s at the old tax rate and our nation managed to thrive and prosper; yet during the ten years of Bush's tax cuts, we shed jobs and opportunity to a level not seen since the Great Depression. Everyone who fought against the repeal said we'd lose millions of jobs if we went back to the old rate.

How does that possibly make any sense?

This year's losers:

Middle class Americans. Like these people, who apparently just stepped out of a time machine from the 1950s.

We got the shittiest possible health care reform; nothing to show for the bank bailouts (unless you happen to be a teller in one of the banks, then you're possibly still employed), minimal help from the stimulus package, and no promise of things getting better any time soon.

But, it pays to be famous. Some people are still laughing all the way to the bank:


UPDATE: Once again, I made it through the entire year without making a single mistake writing the date. That's about 6 out the last 10 years that I managed to get it perfect! Today was my last chance to screw up (filling out the release form at the Bridgeport Shooting Range) and as I wrote 12/31/2010, I knew I'd accomplished something absolutely meaningless!

KISSmas card

So, it happens that a regular reader here (Lakezoarian) took my very tasteful and season-appropriate holiday photo card and gave it the "Gene Simmons" treatment via Photoshop.

I don't think I've ever seen anything so horrific in my entire life!

I'm sure you'll agree.

UPDATE: I have to say, the most disturbing thing about this picture is the way I look like I have "crazy eyes"! It's really weird and unsettling. I'll never open my eyes wide like that for a photo again.

Christmas card

Because so many of you little boys and girls have been naughty this year, here ya go:

Xmas vacation

I need a vacation. I'm taking a break from political blogging for a bit.

Other than maybe posting an occasional observation here, I'll likely be back in January.

Have a great holiday season!

Embarrassed to be a Democrat

(image via Toothpaste For Dinner)
Today everything I feared about our party has turned out to be true.

From the AP:

Brushing past Democratic opposition, President Barack Obama announced agreement with Republicans Monday night on a plan to extend expiring income tax cuts for all Americans, renew jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed and grant a one-year reduction in Social Security taxes.

So, we get those toxic tax cuts, the very ones that managed to drive us into this awful recession over the last 10 years, for another two years. Due in large part to our President. You can pretty much count on it being a permanent tax break for the wealthy, because by the time it comes up again, we'll have some GOP dingbat like Sarah Palin fouling the Oval Office. Then, it'll NEVER go away!

At this point, I'm starting to doubt that it's possible to change our party from the inside. What's the point of being a Democrat if we insist on behaving exactly like the fucking Republicans? I'm seriously considering quitting the party altogether. Maybe it's time I apply for free agency, like a fifth-year NFL running back.

We lost, which is bad enough; but we did it to ourselves, which is infinitely worse.

Congrats to the UConn football team

(Bettina Hansen/Hartford Courant)
Salvaging what was looking like a lost season after opening with a 3-4 record, the UConn Huskies came back strong, winning five in a row to get the Big East title and earning a place in a BCS bowl for the first time in school history.

I watched the game Saturday night, and it was a real nail-biter. With seconds left on the clock, UConn kicker Dave Teggart made a 52-yard field goal to break a 16-16 tie and win the game!

AP #25 pick UConn will face #9 Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl prime-time (8:30PM) on New Year's Day.

Outrage Fatigue

(this totally sums up my feelings right about now - article reposted from CT Blue by permission of John W. - go read his blog because it seriously rocks)

Another post at (Daily) Kos, as at so many of our left leaning blogs, documenting yet another “outrageous” act by a Republican, this time the fact that John Kyl is holding up the Start Treaty in order to get a tax cut for the rich.

I must confess that I am not outraged by this, nor am I outraged at any of the other outrageous acts in which Republicans have engaged lately. I will admit that the acts of the Republicans are objectively outrageous, but I no longer find them emotionally outrageous. At this point, it is just Republicans being Republicans. It is what they do. Worth noting and cataloging to be sure, but not worth an increase in one’s blood pressure. After all, so far as the Republicans are concerned, I can take comfort in the fact that I am in no way responsible for their push to establish a plutocracy. I didn’t vote for them, contribute money to them, or support them in any other way.

I’m afraid that at this point my emotional outrage is reserved solely for the Democrats, from Obama on down, for whom I do have some responsibility, although in my defense, I didn’t have a lot of choices. I know objectively that spineless retreat and ineffectual public communication is what the Democrats do (in the latter category, and somewhat mysteriously, only after they get elected, see e.g., Obama’s campaign in contrast to Obama’s presidency), but I confess that I can’t accept this with the equanimity with which I can accept Republican outrageousness. It is outrageous that the Republicans will hold the government hostage to get their tax cut; it is even more outrageous that the Democrats will cave. It is outrageous that the Republicans are out to destroy the middle class, it is even more outrageous that the Democrats will let them do it. It is outrageous that the Republicans manipulate the middle class, working class, and stupid class with misleading frames; it is even more outrageous that the Democrats make no attempt to counter those frames by effectively packaging the truth. It is outrageous that the Republicans accuse Obama of failing to reach across the aisle, it is even more outrageous when, in the teeth of 2 years of evidence to the contrary, Obama agrees with them.

In the single case of the tax cuts, it would have been easy- it would still be easy- to brand the Republicans as lackeys of the rich, the servants of the folks who are living off of our bailouts. I am 100% certain that if given the choice, most people would prefer no action on taxes over giving yet another tax cut to the rich. But that’s not going to happen. The best we can hope for is a “temporary” extension that will be made permanent later, either by another Democratic capitulation, or by the Republican president elected in 2012 due to the Democrats demonstrated weakness. Meanwhile, the Republicans will, out of feigned concern about the deficits they created with their tax cuts, demand cuts in programs that benefit the lower 98%, to which demands the Democrats will cravenly accede, since they won’t want the pundits and the Republicans to think they can’t make “tough choices”.

CTBob comments: my only observation is that taking "no action on taxes" would equal the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, and I personally would be willing to take that hit on my own middle class tax burden if it means the wealthy have to jump off that gravy train they've been riding for the last ten years.

Because that's a large reason why we're in this budget mess in the first place. I consider it the sort of required sacrifice (although on a much more modest level) that our parents and grandparents made during WWII to ensure our nation's survival.

We should stop behaving like spoiled children being denied a pony on their birthday. I can absolutely survive without a new car every 36 months, a McMansion, or a 62" flat screen for a few more years if it means a chance for economic stability.

Republicans vote to starve children!

The new 2011 GOP strategy of destroying everything good and pure had begun!

From the good ol' AP:

House Republicans have temporarily blocked legislation to feed school meals to thousands more hungry children. Republicans used a procedural maneuver Wednesday to try to amend the $4.5 billion bill, which would give more needy children the opportunity to eat free lunches at school and make those lunches healthier. First lady Michelle Obama has lobbied for the bill as part of her "Let's Move" campaign to combat childhood obesity.

House Democrats said the GOP amendment, which would have required background checks for child care workers, was an effort to kill the bill and delayed a final vote on the legislation rather than vote on the amendment.

Because the nutrition bill is identical to legislation passed by the Senate in August, passage would send it to the White House for President Barack Obama's signature. If the bill were amended, it would be sent back to the Senate with little time left in the legislative session.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. said the House would hold separate votes on Thursday on the amendment and the bill.

Give it up, kids! Your nutrition isn't a concern of the New GOP Ruling Class!

Either hurry up and die, or learn to eat dirt!

Counting down until the Democrats fold

Excuse me if I've become overly cynical.

I've simply lowered the bar on my expectations.

Which means basically I don't expect anything good to get accomplished by the Senate Democratic majority, for the rest of this year, or even the next two years.

Today the Senate Republican leadership, led by always ornery Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell, has vowed to stand together and use their 42-vote block to filibuster every single bit of legislation during the December "lame duck session" (boy, if there was ever a more appropriate phrase!) unless Democrats introduce a bill that extends the ridiculously huge Bush tax cuts for several more years.

From the AP via Yahoo! News:

Senate Republicans threatened Wednesday to block virtually all legislation until expiring tax cuts are extended and a bill is passed to fund the federal government, vastly complicating Democratic attempts to leave their own stamp on the final days of the post-election Congress.

[..]

The Democratic to-do list also includes extending the expiring tax cuts — although they and Republicans differ on particulars, as well as a measure to keep the government in operation. But the rest of their agenda marks an attempt to court voters Democrats need in 2012 to recapture the majority, including Hispanics, gay-rights activists and organized labor.

Call it lame-duck politics.

Here's what's gonna happen: The GOP will block so-called social legislation (like the DADT repeal) until they make enough deals with pseudo-Democrats like Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson to support the tax cut extension, and it'll come up for a vote right before they break for Xmas.

And it'll pass. Of course.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm quitting the middle class. It's just not that cost-effective an economic strata anymore.

Starting tomorrow, I've decided I'm going to be super-wealthy. Yes, I know it won't be easy. But there are so many obvious advantages to being super-wealthy that I'd have to be a fool not to become a member of their ranks.

So it's gonna be huge amounts of personal wealth at ridiculously low tax rates for me from now on!

See you on Easy Street, suckers!

Gov't left the barn door open

(Julian Assange; AP photo)
In all the furor over Wikileaks publishing around 250,000 supposedly secret government documents, everyone seems to be missing the point.

As widely reported everywhere except in the Sunday funny papers, Wikileaks is being targeted by the US Government for releasing the documents. The government has gone as far as launching a Denial of Service (DOS) attack on the website in an effort to hinder the exposure of the thousands of embassy cables and memos.

Some are calling for Wikileaks to be declared a "foreign terrorist organization", as the AP reports:

A key Republican Congressman from New York has a new definition for the word "terrorism" that doesn't require the use of violence or even fear.

All that's needed to be a terrorist, according to Rep. Peter King, the incoming chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is a website revealing inconvenient information.

That's why King sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Attorney General Eric Holder on Sunday, demanding that whistleblower website WikiLeaks be deemed a "foreign terrorist organization" and it's founder declared a terror ringleader.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange reportedly has the hugest set of balls in history, because we all know what happens to people who get on the US government's bad side!

What everyone is failing to ask is "how the fuck did a quarter million supposedly secret documents find their way into Assange's hands in the first place?"

I mean, c'mon people, use your heads! If some nitwit with a website can stumble across that volume of secret papers, what do you think actual hostile foreign governments are doing right this minute? How is it this guy's fault, when all he did was bring attention to the fact that basically EVERY secret the US government has is up for grabs?

If anything, Assange deserves a frickin' medal! Because he's doing us a valuable service in pointing out just how shitty our government is at keeping its secrets. THAT'S where we should focus our attention.

Somebody left the barn door wide open, and suddenly they're all pissed off that the horse bolted on its own.

(Oh, and fuck that asshole King Abdullah! If he wants to invade Iran so badly, he should buy a few thousand more of our jets and fucking do it himself!)

Here we go again

Can we please just get through one goddamned decade without a war happening? I'm really getting sick of this shit.

(He's just so vewwy vewwy ronery!)


And, just in case we're needed...

New Malloy website and Black Friday

Thanksgiving bonus! Two articles in one!

First of all, I ventured out into the "black Friday" shopping madness this morning. Certainly not as early as those dummies in the photo below. I awakened from my turkey coma around 9AM this morning, and only went shopping after having a leisurely breakfast with CT Joyce that included eggs, coffee and a Bloody Mary (the cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast!)

So I went to Home Depot and bought a bunch of LED light strings to replace all those old fashioned bulb light strings that always have a section in the middle that refuses to light up regardless of how many goddamned bulbs I replace! $1.98 for an 18' string of 50 LED lights seemed like a good deal (while supplies last!) Checkout at the self-service register was quick and painless.

Then I went over to Ocean State Job Lot, but didn't find what I was looking for (an outdoor timer for my mom-in-law's lights) and the checkout lines were super long anyway, so I went home.

So I survived Black Friday, because I'm definitely not going shopping again today (unless I run out of vodka.)

Next up, Gov-elect Dan Malloy launched a new "transition" website to listen to constituents. The website is at transition.ct.gov:

This website is a marked contrast to the website that Tom Dudchik over at Capitol Report started recently, which invites a question as to Dudchik's motivation for starting it:

(Trust me, you should click on the image to enlarge)
Just in case you're not sure who created this website, here's a little Easter egg at the bottom of that page:

Hmmm...suddenly Dudchik is all like "whoa, we gotta tell Dan what to do!" when just a month ago he was all like "whoa, Jodi is doing a super-awesome job!".

(For the record, I have no idea what Tom Dudchik talks like, but I'd guess it's probably not very much like the imaginary "surfer dude" voice I'm parodying here...then again, who knows? I never met the dude.)

Happy Thanksgiving

Fear wins the day!

We've officially lost the "War on Terror", since we now have to basically strip-search children.

The goal of terrorism is to create such fear in a nation that they can't continue to operate normally. The terrorists have won!

Let's just all give up and learn how to speak Muslim.

Because, it ain't bombs that's doing it...we're doing it to ourselves.

Dems slam Congressional GOPers for healthcare

(via Bill Sanders)
If you're going to be against health care, then you should give up your government provided health care yourselves, Congressional Democrats said yesterday.

In a letter to future Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, the Democrats told Republicans that if they oppose government health care so much, they should voluntarily give up the unbelievably good government health care they currently receive for being legislators.

Via The Raw Story:

“You cannot enroll in the very kind of coverage that you want for yourselves, and then turn around and deny it to Americans who don't happen to be Members of Congress," wrote Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY). “If your conference wants to deny millions of Americans affordable health care, your members should walk that walk.”

Crowley's letter was signed by three other Democrats: Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD), Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) and Rep. Linda T. Sanchez (D-CA). Politico's Glenn Thrush, who first reported on the letter, describes them as "fierce defenders of President Obama’s health care reforms."

The boundless hypocrisy of the GOP will doubtless be proven once again, as they'll likely find some bullshit excuse why they should benefit from the very best health care taxpayers can pay for, while proposing to deny even a minimal amount of coverage to the legions of poor, ill-informed saps who were frightened enough by conservative corporate propaganda into voting for them.

I doubt there's even ONE single millionaire Republican that will have the guts to take up the Democrats' challenge. It's simply too good a deal to pass up, and I never saw a Republican who has ever passed up a chance to effectively make money off the backs of taxpayers.

So, as we head into the new Congressional session, remember while every Republican rails against the health care bill and tries to get it overturned, that not a one of those guys will ever have to worry about paying a single thin dime for their own health insurance!

Don't forget that fact.

"Bedlam" at Bridgeport polls

Rep. Chris Caruso (D-126) discussed the voting problems in an interview with Lennie Grimaldi from OnlyInBridgeport.com, and reporter Brian Smith from DoingItLocal.com. Caruso is calling for an investigation and for Democratic registrar Sandi Ayala's resignation or removal from office because of massive voting problems in the recent election.

This comes on the heels of the City of Bridgeport defying the Secretary of State's call for an additional audit of all twelve of the precincts that were kept open an additional two hours by a judge's order on election night.

2012 Primary Schedule

(Feb. 2008: Obama rally in Hartford w/Sen. Kennedy)
Yes, it's never too early to get a head start on silly season in politics! As of today we're only 14 months away (shocking, ain't it?) So here's the projected 2012 Presidential Primary Schedule.

I expect we'll see plenty of changes between now and the first caucus in the 2012 Primary calendar, but even so, I hope to get the chance to be in New Hampshire again for their exciting primary. The cold, the snow, the slush...ah, it's magic!

(Feb. 2008: McCain rally in Fairfield)
Here's the current rundown of dates, and I'll update them as changes come in:

2012 Primary Schedule

Monday, January 16, 2012: Iowa caucuses

Tuesday, January 24: New Hampshire

Saturday, January 28: Nevada caucuses, South Carolina

Tuesday, January 31: Florida

Tuesday, February 7 (Super Tuesday): Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Montana Republican caucuses, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah

Saturday, February 11: Louisiana

Tuesday, February 14: Maryland, Virginia

Tuesday, February 21: Hawaii Republican caucuses, Wisconsin

Tuesday, February 28: Arizona, Michigan

Tuesday, March 6: Minnesota caucuses, Massachusetts, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont

Tuesday, March 13: Mississippi

Tuesday, March 20: Colorado caucuses, Illinois

Tuesday, April 24: Pennsylvania

Tuesday, May 8: Indiana, North Carolina and West Virginia

Tuesday, May 15: Nebraska, Oregon

Tuesday, May 22: Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky

Tuesday, June 5: Montana, New Mexico and South Dakota

Of course, I'll try to get changes updated as soon as possible. It looks like 2012 is going to be front-loaded just as bad as 2008 was, unless states work to restore some sense to the process.

Krayeske seeks to question Rell

Ken Krayeske, activist, journalist and newly-minted attorney, has taken steps to compel outgoing governor M. Jodi Rell to answer questions regarding the "secret list" she allegedly gave to police of persons to arrest should they show up at her 2007 inauguration parade.

To refresh your memory, here's my interview with Ken soon after his arrest:



The Hartford Courant has an update on Ken's battle with Jodi Rell:

Political activist and freelance journalist Ken Krayeske filed a motion in federal court Friday in his effort to question Gov. M. Jodi Rell under oath as part of his lawsuit against a Hartford police officer who arrested him at Rell's inauguration parade in January 2007.

"Governor Rell's first-hand knowledge of her experience at the parade will corroborate Plaintiff Krayeske's claim that he did not enter the parade route, and that the false arrest was a result of his protected speech activities," Krayeske's lawyer, Houston Putnam Lowry, said in the motion.

It seeks an order by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill allowing him to take testimony from Rell in a deposition after she leaves office Jan. 5.

The attorney general's office is expected to file a counter-motion within weeks, before Underhill decides whether he'll permit the unusual deposition, which was sought by Krayeske in an April subpoena.

The Courant article goes on to discuss Krayeske's political activities, including a run for Congress as the Green Party candidate in the 1st CD, and his new career as an attorney.

John Mertens blows it

UPDATE: Here's Dr. Orman in his own words as to WHY he worked to keep the "Connecticut For Lieberman" Party alive...before Mertens decided to use it for his own purposes.

"This is an experiment in democracy. Nobody has ever taken over a fake party from an incumbent senator and tried to turn it into a mechanism for accountability."

- Dr. John Orman (@ 48:40 in the video)

And now, here's the original article from this morning:

(CT News Junkie photo)
Egomaniac and selfish assclown Professor John Mertens has succeeded in losing the "Connecticut For Lieberman" party line on the 2012 ballot because he's such a jerk.

(As a journalistic lead, that statement probably leaves something to be desired; but then again, I really never aspired to be a professional journalist!)

By not garnering at least 1% of the vote in his ridiculous and narcissistic run for senate, Trinity College Professor Mertens has caused the CFL line to miss the qualifying threshold for 2012.

For someone who's supposed to be so smart, he's quite the jackass.

To recap what happened, in 2006 Sen. Joe Lieberman (and it truly pains me that a dedicated public servant like Chris Dodd is forced to retire, while a political hack like Lieberman is free to enjoy the many tasty fruits of Senate life for at least two more years) was defeated by Ned Lamont in the senate primary, so he created a sham party called CFL and, while never actually becoming a member of that party, ran for reelection and won with the help of Connecticut Republicans, who abandoned their own nominated candidate in a massive show of non-support and voted for Lieberman.

Then, as soon as Lieberman won, he dropped the CFL party. Dr. John Orman, a political science professor at Fairfield U., saw an opportunity to take over the dormant party to use against Lieberman in 2012. So he registered as the very first member of CFL and held a convention, gained support from other Democratic activists who also registered as CFL, and he was appointed chairman. His intent was to keep the ballot line active until 2012, when he would use the line to embarrass Joe Lieberman. The way to keep the ballot line active was to cross-endorse a sure-win candidate and easily collect enough votes to exceed the threshold. Working Families Party does this every time with favored Democrats.

Shortly before he died, Dr. Orman transferred stewardship of the party to John Mertens, who was entrusted with the original intent of the newly hijacked party. What he did instead was steal the party that was rightfully pilfered by Dr. Orman, and used to fuel the Trinity professor's giant ego.

Because, let's face it, seeing your name on every ballot in the state (over 1 million of them) is a huge ego boost. And Professor Mertens let himself be seduced by that need to seek attention. For a while he was treated semi-seriously, like a real third party candidate. But every interview seemed to point out the sheer hopelessness of his run, while missing the importance of keeping the ballot line alive.

So now the results are in, and John Mertens blew it. He got about 1/2 of a percentage point, which means the party is officially dead.

Good work, douchebag.

Alaskan Tea Bagger contests write-in votes

Alaskan senate loser and Tea Party favorite Joe Miller is upset that not enough people in the state love him. Upset enough to file a lawsuit against the state division of elections to prevent them from counting votes where the write-in candidate's name was incorrectly spelled.

Senator Lisa Murkowski was defeated by a raucous Tea Party campaign in the Republican primary, but she decided to run as a write-in candidate, and is expected to win once all the write-in votes are counted.

Unless Miller's lawsuit, which contests every vote that isn't spelled exactly as "Murkowski" or "Lisa Murkowski", is upheld. A judge refused today to exempt minor spelling errors when the vote intent is reasonably clear. From the Anchorage Daily News:

(Judge) Fenumiai overruled the Miller campaign's challenges on ballots like those spelled "Merkowski," "Murkowsky," and "Murcowski." They'll be reviewed in the expected recount, if not the courts.

Miller campaign observers successfully challenged only 1.44 percent of the 19,203 ballots counted on Wednesday. Fenumiai agreed with challenges by the Miller campaign of ballots like "McCosky," "Misskowski" and "Morcowski."

Now, I don't know if the Murkowski campaign ran any advertising on how to spell her last name, which, let's face it, is more difficult to spell than a simpleton's name like "Miller" (just a random example here).

Why didn't they run ads saying something like "Write in Murkowski on Nov. 2nd...that's MUR KOW SKI...M-U-R, K-O-W, S-K-I". That might have brought down the number of contested ballots from almost 10% to probably less than 5%. Then you're not giving a tea bagger anything to hang a lawsuit upon. Miller needs about 12% of the write-ins tossed to have a chance at winning.

Anyway, since there's absolutely no chance that the concept of "fair play" is included in the "Tea Bagger's Guide To Eletions", so you can look forward to a ridiculously drawn-out count, recount, lawsuit, appeal to the Supreme Court, etc. before this is over.

But in the end, "Mur-Kow-Ski" will prevail.

(...and I can't believe I'm rooting for a Republican!)

New Haven gives a "Promise" of college

(Photo by Sarah Sullivan/Yale Daily News)
Yesterday Mayor John DeStefano and the City of New Haven unveiled a program that would give students the opportunity to attend college for free.

New Haven Promise is the result of cooperation between the City, Yale University, and the Community Foundation. A total of $4,000,000 is available from Yale, which will be used to provide free tuition to state schools for students who carry a minimum 3.0 GPA (B average), live in New Haven, maintain a 90% attendance rate while staying out of trouble, and perform 40 hours of community service.

This is exactly the sort of forward thinking program that other cities have adopted and shown to be a success. It rewards students who actually want to learn, and gives them a huge incentive to work hard and form long-term goals. Before, without the likelihood of being able to pay for college, many students didn't work as hard and some would drop out the moment a low paying job became available to them.

From the NH Register:

For those who qualify, the city will provide full tuition for up to four years at a Connecticut public university or community college. For students who enroll in nonprofit private universities in the state, including Yale, the city will contribute up to $2,500 per year toward the cost of education. The amount of the scholarship is based on length of time in the district.

The Promise program will be phased in over four years, with this year’s class of 2011 eligible for 25 percent, the class of 2012 eligible for half, and 2013 eligible for 75 percent. Graduates in 2014 will be the first to be eligible for the full benefit. Students must maintain a 2.5 grade point average in college.

This program instills hope and a sense of purpose to city children, and as Mayor De Stefano remarked, the program will build a local workforce, encourage business growth, and add taxpayers to the city.

Full details are in this article in the New Haven Register.

Well done, Mr. Foley

At today's press conference, the candidate who finished second in the gubernatorial election finally conceded to Dan Malloy.

In a conciliatory statement, Tom Foley said he would drop any challenge to the outcome, and congratulated Malloy on his victory.

From CT News Junkie:

“The election on Tuesday although very close was a conclusive victory for Dan Malloy. This result should not be questioned. I hope my supporters would accept my word on this,” Foley said. “This race would not have been affected ... by what I have learned [too place] in Bridgeport.”

[..]

“I made the decision to run for office after concluding that, win or lose, I would be better off for having tried. That has held true,” he said. “It has been an honor to run for governor in Connecticut.”

It was a nice way to end what had been a very contentious campaign.

Meanwhile, the sore loser award goes to GOP Chairman Chris Healy, who is obviously worried for his job after such a complete and utter failure to win even ONE statewide or federal office. Healy stated that he wants a federal investigation into voting irregularities before the state has even had a chance to audit the election.

While there are definitely issues regarding the voting that need to be addressed, it's fairly clear that Healy is grandstanding to try to deflect the focus from his dismal performance as GOP chair. Even long time Republican supporters are having a tough time defending him, although they try.

Perhaps the most telling defense I've seen so far is, "If not Healy, then whom?", which seems to indicate the GOP is in the game with a very shallow bench here in Connecticut.

In any case, well done Mr. Foley. I give you credit for bowing out with a touch of class. A rarity in politics these days.

Foley to speak on election today

Tom Foley announced he'll appear before the press today around 1PM to discuss the election and whether he'll pursue a challenge to the results. The current margin of the election stands at 5,637 votes out of more than 1.1 million votes cast, which is very close to a 0.5% difference.

I'm guessing Foley will let the results stand, although he'll have plenty to say about the situation in Bridgeport. There's major doubt that he'll be successful in getting a recount, and even more that afterward the current result will be overturned. Unless Foley's team has uncovered some broad ranging evidence of corruption or voter fraud, there's going to be little legal grounds for a challenge.

There are some issues that do need to be addressed. As I discussed previously, the ballots running out was a total embarrassment. Also, the issue of late voting and photocopied ballots should be discussed, especially procedures. And there's now a question about whether the judge was justified in ordering the reverse-911 emergency notification service to be used to tell voters with land-line phones that voting was still open until 10PM.

Regardless of the above, we DO have a governor-elect, and Gov. Rell's office needs to accept that fact and start paving the way for a smooth and orderly transition.

UPDATE: John W. over at CT Blue has a unique spin on Foley's possible rationale for a challenge. Check it out! (h/t Aldon @ Orient Lodge)

Oh, Susan!

It's one thing to make a mistake.

Hell, everyone makes a mistake once in a while.

It's quite another thing to make mistake after mistake after mistake when dealing with the first mistake!



What can we learn from this?

Here's a short list of my suggestions, and feel free to add to them in the comments:

1) Make people take responsibility for their mistakes. If the Bpt. registrars walk away from this debacle with nothing more than a slap on the wrist, this will destroy voter's confidence in the system. You don't have to fire them; maybe transfer them to another municipal job that doesn't affect voting. I hear they can use some help in the Sanitation Dept.

2) Get the math right the FIRST TIME! We have all sorts of modern conveniences that make it easy to double- and triple- and quadruple-check the numbers before releasing them. If you make simple math errors, then that indicates either there's a problem with your procedures, or you're not following them.

3) Learn from your mistakes, and pass meaningful legislation to prevent these things from happening in the future. If that means making it law to have enough ballots for 100% of the voters, then do it. How much does it cost to defend lawsuits and perform recounts?

4) Don't skip the big press conference where you announce the "final" results after three days of pure chaos because you had a previous engagement scheduled. It gives the appearance that your priorities are severely out of whack.

These are rookie mistakes. Ones you wouldn't expect a long-time Secretary of State to make.

Susan isn't necessarily responsible for Bridgeport running out of ballots. Although it seems a no-brainer to require towns to order AT LEAST as many ballots as would be needed to cover the percentage of registered voters who voted in the least-attended election, which since before 1998 (the earliest year the SoS website has archives) would have exceeded the 21,000 ballots they ordered this year.

So, unless people stayed home in droves, they were going to run out even BEFORE President Obama visited Bridgeport.

This was entirely foreseeable and preventable. From what I've seen so far, there's no policy in place to resupply municipalities with ballots when they run out. I sort of thought that's the kind of thing the Secretary of State's "Election Day Rapid Response Teams" were there for.

But, I guess not.

Rell-Moody issues gag order

On Thursday outgoing Governor M. Jodi Rell signed and sent a memo to commissioners and heads of state agencies, ordering them to not communicate with Governor-elect Dan Malloy's transition team members.

"As you are well aware, we are still waiting for the official election results of the Governor's race from the Secretary of the State's office. After an official winner is declared, the next few weeks will be a time of transition for the Administration,"

[..]

"If you or your agency staff receives calls or requests from the future Governor-elect or his transition team – even after the winner is officially declared – we are requesting that you immediately direct any communication from them to the Governor's Office. All communications with the Governor-elect or his transition should start with the Governor's Office."

The Hartford Courant reported that this order isn't being well received by the addressees. Many of them possess valuable expertise that they feel will ease the transition to a new administration.

But many point to Rell's chief of staff, the thoroughly unpleasant M. Lisa Moody (photo above...does everyone have to use a first initial "M" around here?) as the culprit responsible for this petty obstruction. Rather than smoothing things over for the incoming administration, which obviously will be Dan Malloy's, she chose to block and delay the necessary preparations to begin the transition.

With the state facing an unprecedented budget crisis this year, wouldn't it be prudent and beneficial to the people of Connecticut for the present administration to do everything possible to assist the new administration?

Apparently not, as far as Rell and Moody are concerned.

Liberal media? HA!

That legendary bastion of the so-called "liberal media", MSNBC, has suspended Keith Olbermann for making some contributions (as a private citizen) to three Democratic candidates this election cycle.

At the same time, several conservative talking heads on the network, including Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan, have similarly donated to Republican causes, but strangely enough they're allowed to continue broadcasting. The network is saying KO is a reporter, while Joe and Pat are commentators.

But really, does ANYONE tuning in to watch Keith Olbermann honestly think he's anything but what he is? Can we just try to give TV viewers even the slightest credit for being intelligent?

(Actually, judging from the popularity of "Two and a Half Men", the answer is obviously "no".)

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders came out with the following statement:

"It is outrageous that General Electric/MSNBC would suspend Keith Olbermann for exercising his constitutional rights to contribute to a candidate of his choice. This is a real threat to political discourse in America and will have a chilling impact on every commentator for MSNBC."

BTW, FoxNews superstars Karl Rove and Sean Hannity have similarly contributed butt-loads of cash to Republican candidates and causes. And Rupert Murdoch effectively encourages them to do so.

So, what will it take for all you GOPers out there to finally give the "Liberal Media" meme a rest? At best, it's all corporate media. And at its worst, it's conservative media.

Foley gets results of vote tally

In this exclusive video, you see Tom Foley receiving the bad news from Mayor Bill Finch after the final count was completed today.



Wow, Mr. Mayor, that was a little harsh!

So where were they?

I received a press release from the Secretary of State's office the day before the election. According to the release, there were special "Election Day Rapid Response Teams" standing by to assist with any problems that might crop up at polling places.

The press release also stated that there was something along the lines of a 60% turnout expected.

This raises a few questions in my mind:

When did the Bridgeport ballot shortage become apparent?

Did anyone contact the SoS's office about this?

Were any of the EDRRT's dispatched to observe and assist the Bridgeport crisis?

If it was commonly assumed there could be a 60% turnout, was anyone from the SoS's office tasked with calling each town in the days before the election and checking to see that they had at least that many on hand? (Bridgeport only ordered enough ballots for roughly 31% turnout)

I dunno, but judging from the severity of the crisis in Bridgeport on Tuesday, we should have seen swarms of specially modified Humvees, complete with two-sided ballot printing machines, screaming down I-91 with sirens blaring carrying the crack Election Day Rapid Response Teams into position, ready to attack the problem!

That would have been neat.

Tick Tock

I wonder if the local media is starting to get a little edgy after being sleep-deprived for the better part of three days?

Press release from the Secretary of State's office:

I am getting many phone calls all asking me the same question: when will your office have the official results in the Governor’s race? The answer is, I don’t know.

When we do know, we will notify you.

As of 11:30 a.m. we still have not received the return from Bridgeport. Once the return is received by our office, the data will be entered to our computerized database. Then the result will be tabulated. Then the figures will be double and triple checked to make sure any errors are eliminated. When we are confident that we have a complete and accurate election result, then we will release it to you. Secretary Bysiewicz will not have anything to say until then. I appreciate your patience.

Once again, I cannot tell you right now when this information will be available, but we are hopeful it will be today.

Thank you,

Av Harris
Communications Director
Connecticut Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz

The cynical, evil part of my brain (i.e. - all of it) suspects this may be a delaying tactic to prevent Foley from filing a challenge in court until Monday. This would cause him to lose significant thunder in the press. I won't be terribly surprised if we don't get an announcement until about 4:59PM today.

It's nearly official: Malloy Wins!

At a 6AM press conference Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch announced the final results of the vote count, with Dan Malloy receiving 17,800 votes to Tom Foley's 4,075. Which gave the Democratic candidate roughly a 5,000 vote lead statewide.

But of course, what fun is that without a little additional drama? From CT News Junkie:

Finch’s numbers did differ from the final tally prepared by his two city registrars after one final marathon vote-counting session. It lasted from 4:30 p.m. Thursday until 7:30 a.m. Friday. Their numbers: 17,042 to 4,099.

Finch’s numbers did differ from the final tally prepared by his two city registrars after one final marathon vote-counting session. It lasted from 4:30 p.m. Thursday until 7:30 a.m. Friday. Their numbers, announced at 7:30 a.m: 17,042 to 4,099. Registrars posted those numbers on the wall at 7:30 a.m.

But then there was another mess-up: The numbers came off the wall. Registrars said in their haste to put numbers up, they forgot to put some in.

At 8:47 a.m. registrars then called out the super-final, ultra-official numbers they will fax in to the state: 17,923 for Malloy (on the Democrtic and Working Families Party lines) and 4,092 for Foley. Those votes appear not to include ballots cast after 8 p.m. on Tuesday.

One reason for this one last discrepancy: Finch made the announcement at 6 a.m. The film vote wasn’t ready yet. Finch acknowledged that. He said all that was left to be counted at 6 a.m. were ballots that had been cast after 8 p.m. Tuesday—when a judge allowed some precincts to stay open an extra two hours to accommodate people who hadn’t been able to vote when the city ran out of ballots earlier in the day. It turned out there were only 57 votes cast for governor after 8 p.m.

What was odd: Finch actually offered a number for Foley that was too big. At first. (Once the registrars put up the final numbers, we’ll find out.) But the discrepancy should not make a difference in the statewide tally: Foley had been up by 8,409 without Bridgeport. Bridgeport’s final tally (whichever is used) puts Malloy comfortably ahead, by around 5,000 votes, more than double the 2,000-vote margin that would have triggered an automatic recount.

Shouldn't Mayor Finch maybe have had breakfast and read the newspaper before making his ridiculously early statement? I understand the desire to get the announcement out, but when the counting is still going on you probably shouldn't hold a press conference to announce the winner. I'm just sayin'...

Anyway, it appears that now, after 9:30AM, the totals are complete (pending any changes, of course, like finding additional bags of ballots that fell off the truck on the way to City Hall) and will now go up to the Secretary of State's office. Susan's job is to check the math and then officially certify the results.

At that point, we'll officially have a governor-elect.

And the inevitable blizzard of legal paperwork that accompanies any number of challenges by Foley and the Connecticut GOP.

More surprises in Bridgeport

(counting votes in Florida 2000)
Like, a bag full of surprises!

According to CT New Junkie:

A shocking new charge emerged outside the Bridgeport government building where overtime vote-counting is taking place to determine the winner of Tuesday’s gubernatorial election: that a new “bag” full of uncounted ballots has been located.

[..]

Richard Albrecht of Bridgeport, the Foley attorney, said Foley staffers were approached around 6 p.m. by Art Laske, Bridgeport’s assistant city attorney. Laske told them there’s a “bag of ballots” somewhere in the building that have not been counted yet, according to Albrecht.

Democratic officials—whom he wouldn’t name—wanted the Foley campaign to deputize someone to help count the ballots, according to Albrecht. But the Foley campaign refused, saying it was an improper procedure.

The Foley representatives present at the press conference said they have not seen the bag.

Holy shit! WTF is going on in Bridgeport?

Bridgeport Democratic Registrar Sandy Ayala:

“There is no bag missing,” Ayala said. “No bag has been found, because there is no bag missing. There’s no bag, so there’s no bag to find. Any bag used in this election has been properly sealed under lock and key. Everything will be done in the light of night. I really don’t care what they are saying on TV and radio. The Republican registrar and I are on the same page. There are no bags missing or found.”

Well, OK. Look, it should be fairly easy to figure this out.

Since every voter who voted had their name checked off a list before they voted, the city has an accurate count on how many votes were cast, whether on standard ballots or photocopied ballots. When the bag in question is counted, that will go onto the total of the ballots cast. The number of voters should reconcile with the number of ballots total. If they do, great.

If they don't...well, let's just say that this will drag on through the new year before it gets resolved.

Come back tomorrow

From the Secretary of State's office:

Hartford: Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz today issued the following statement regarding the status of moderator returns from the city of Bridgeport following the November 2, 2010 general election:

“At approximately 5:00 p.m., our office learned from the Registrar of Voters’ office in Bridgeport that it may take several more hours for the Head Moderator to complete the return from Election Day. By law, this document was required by law to be delivered to our office by 6:00 p.m. yesterday. As such, we do not anticipate receiving any completed return from Bridgeport this evening.

In the interest of transparency and open government, we feel it is very important that this return from Bridgeport be processed during normal business hours when any member of the public can observe the submission of this important document.

Our office has always been committed to ensuring the integrity of every election in Connecticut and this is no different, despite the close vote for Governor. Therefore, we expect that tomorrow we will receive a Head Moderator’s return from the city of Bridgeport with complete vote totals from Election Day. We will have more to say once this return is received and processed by our office.”

There ya go! See ya'll tomorrow!

"We're waiting for Bridgeport"

Sheesh...

The longer this takes, the louder the howls will be accusing the city of corruption and fraud. The GOP already is lined up to challenge the results of the election. The only thing stopping them so far is there aren't any official results yet!

Expect a stampede of lawyers running into courthouses across the state the moment we hear any official winner announced.

More on the story at The Connecticut Post (photo from CT Post). Check out Mark Davis. Notice how "the talent" gets the comfy chair; while the honest, hard-working camera crew has to stand.

Breaking News: Susan Bysiewicz presser

3:20PM

Susan just announced that Bridgeport will begin preparing their moderator returns, and it will be another while to get the results. She will let us know when the results are in.

Susan said she believes they finished counting in Bridgeport, and they simply need to fill out the official form for the moderator's report.

All 168 other towns in CT are fully reported, according to Sec. of State Bysiewicz. All those numbers are available on the Sec. of State website, but I can't get them to work at this time.

Vote count update

A few things here:

The Associated Press has corrected its New Haven numbers, now showing Malloy with a 4,240 lead over Foley. But the Bridgeport numbers only have 15 out of 25 precincts reporting, so there's still some issue with getting the Bridgeport votes tallied.

I just received word that Bridgeport is recanvassing starting at 1:00PM today. No idea why. Susan Bysiewicz postponed a noon press conference to later this afternoon. Possibly to allow Bridgeport to get the final numbers in.

We are close to becoming Florida

OK, it's starting to look grim for everyone involved. We still don't have a consensus on who won the governor's seat, and overnight the Associated Press has withdrawn their position that Dan Malloy was the winner.

Tom Foley is refusing to concede, there are legions of lawyers standing by to file their objections, and for some reason we can't get accurate numbers on the total vote.

This is starting to look like Florida after the 2000 election. What's gonna happen next? Are we going to witness a "Brooks Brothers riot"?

Sec. of State Susan Bysiewicz stated that Dan Malloy had a 3,103 vote lead with just 1.5% of precincts unreported at her press conference yesterday, but the AP is now saying that Tom Foley is ahead by 8,424 votes. What is the cause of this difference, and why is it taking so long to get accurate numbers? Or at least, if there are specific precincts that still are uncounted, which ones are they, and how many votes do they represent?

Meanwhile, both candidates announced they're putting together transition teams, as detailed in CT News Junkie. I'm sure there will be more news later today.

UPDATE: Daniel Nicholson over at Campaign Diaries has a clear explanation of the discrepancies, especially when looking at the New Haven numbers, which the AP have gotten totally wrong. Susan Bysiewicz may be closer to the actual number as this thing progresses.

The Death of the Tea Party in Connecticut

(photo credit Al Robinson)
After all the noise, and the bullying, and the bullshit generated by Tea Partiers in Connecticut over the last two years, what exactly do they have to show for it?

Nothing. Nada. Zip.

Jack squat.

EVERY single national and constitutional seat in Connecticut was won or retained by a Democrat. Well, the Governor's seat is still undecided, but it's looking dicey for Foley at this point. And if the ballot situation hadn't gotten screwed up in Bridgeport, Malloy would have won already.

So what did all the screaming, hatred, and bigotry gain you guys? What did shouting down Congressmen at open town hall meetings get you?

Fuck all, is what! Not a single thing...

...except for...well, now you're officially a joke!

I hope it stings.

I'm sorry to engage in a little schadenfreude this morning, but I think you finally need to face this unpleasant truth about yourselves:

Your extreme politics don't play here in Connecticut. It's time to reevaluate your priorities, fellas.





Well done, "FreedomWorks"! Keep spending your money here, it's helping our Democratic economy!

I have to ask this...

Would the election have been this close if Ned Lamont was the nominee? I think we should consider what the conversation would have been if it was the "two rich guys from Greenwich" running against each other.

Oh well, it's still too early to ask "what if..."

You should only do that if you lose.

Keeping my fingers crossed that Malloy will prevail in the recount. I'd hate to be a registrar from Bridgeport this morning!

While we're waiting on the Gov results...

It's time for some shout-outs to the winners!

Congratulations to Dick Blumenthal for a solid race against a ridiculously wealthy opponent who wasn't afraid to spend $50,000,000 to buy the seat.

For Congress, we had a second clean sweep in the row! Chris Murphy, Rosa DeLauro, John Larson, Joe Courtney, and Jim Himes all won again. Way to go, folks!

Congrats to George Jepsen, our new Attorney General! George has some big shoes to fill following Dick Blumenthal, but I know that he's a dedicated and competent guy and he'll do a great job.

Congrats to Denise Merrill for winning the Secretary of State's office. I'm sure we'll be served well by her, especially if we can convince her that same day registration DOES work, as well as early voting. Just look at how other states deal with it, and she'll have a golden opportunity to build a system in Connecticut that will make us a shining example of democracy.

Congrats to Kevin Lembo, our new Comptroller! Kevin is far and away the easiest choice for this job, and I'm happy that Connecticut voters agreed.

Congrats to Denise Nappier for continuing to be our State Treasurer. Her competence and experience will serve our citizens well over the next four years.

And here in Milford, we also had a clean sweep. Gayle Slossberg won reelection to her Senate seat, as did Probate Judge Beverly Streit-Kefalas, and State Reps. Dick Roy and Paul Davis won.

And newcomer Kim Rose rode a wave of support to a big victory right here in the 118th; my district and the seat formerly occupied by outgoing Rep. Barbara Lambert, and recently retired from politics Former Speaker Jim Amann. We loves our Dems here in the 118th! Great job by Kim and the Milford Democrats, who did tremendous amounts of phone banking and door knocking to ensure a Democratic sweep here in good ol' Milford!

Regardless of what happened nationally, I'm very happy to wake up as a Democrat this morning! My minuscule contribution to the cause pales in comparison to what the truly dedicated and hard-working Democrats who really made the difference did this year. I'm proud of all of you.

8AM Still too close to call

90% of the ballots counted, and the count stands as:

Tom Foley. 508,658 50%
Dan Malloy 497,575 49%

So, Foley currently leads by 11,083 votes.

Bpt. Mayor Bill Finch is livid over the ballot debacle, saying he doesn't want Bridgeport to be known as "...the hanging chad of Connecticut."

I'm guessing that since Bridgeport has 69,000 registered voters, and they only had about 21,000 ballots (it still astounds me), and with the turnout expected anywhere from 40-60%, there may have been anywhere from 28,000 to 41,000 votes cast. With Bridgeport expected to go at least 80% Democratic, this might result in a net gain of anywhere from around 4,000 to 24,000 votes for Dan Malloy.

But those numbers assume that NO voting results were reported from Bridgeport yet. If any of the precincts that didn't run out of ballots reported the numbers, the gain for Malloy will obviously be less when the results are released.

It's gonna be a tense waiting game for both candidates. I'm sorry, but this is the kind of screw up that cost us the White House in 2000 (which had a silver lining; it kept Joe Lieberman out of the VP seat), and there is simply NO excuse for not ordering a ballot for every single voter in every single district.

One thing is likely....every election from here on, there's gonna be TONS of unused ballots discarded the day after voting is over!

I'll feel better when Foley conceeds

Dammit, I want to go to sleep. And I'm out of scotch.

Tom Foley gave a speech at the same time as Dan, claiming possible victory.

Two candidates, each saying they sorta maybe possibly won.

Fuck it. I'm going to bed.

Maybe we'll have a governor by sunrise. But I'm beginning to doubt it.

G'night everyone, and thanks for reading ConnecticutBob.com!

Dan Malloy is our next governor. I think.

Some of Dan Malloy's remarks right now:

"It appears we may enjoy victory tonight."

"Based on our look at the numbers, it looks like we'll end up doing what you wished we would do."

"We respect the right of other individuals to contest the numbers..."

"This will work itself out, but I'm pretty certain we'll be OK."

Hmmm...not exactly the definitive sort of announcement I was expecting.

I'm thinking this might not be over just yet.

Malloy-Wyman Win!

Wow! Just wow!

Congrats to Connecticut Democrats for coming through for an across-the-board win!

More soon...

Now they're saying Malloy will speak shortly

Within the next 1/2 hour. Can this be a concession announcement? Can I maybe think about getting some sleep in the very near future?

From FoxNews.com website

OK, so what the hell do they know that we DON'T know? What is going on here?

Still waiting on Gov. race

Reports say most of the unreported results are from the big cities, which are expected to be overwhelmingly for Malloy.

And about an hour ago, there was this:

Weird movement in Gov race

At 12:05AM it's still too close to call. On Cablevision 12 they just announced that Tom Foley's campaign HQ is much less enthusiastic than they were even 20 minutes ago. And supposedly Tom Foley is going to speak shortly.

Could this mean that he knows he lost already? Usually the first person to announce is the loser, immediately after the concession phone call to the other campaign. Possibly the late returns from the cities are making it clear that Malloy has somehow carried the day?

Stay tuned...

Last looks of the night

Joyce has to get to work early tomorrow, so I'm packing up. I'll probably blog a little more from home in about 1/2 hour. This was a fun night!

Victory Lap

I'm especially thrilled that we had a clean sweep in Republican-leaning Milford tonight. Gayle won the Senate, and Kim Rose stunned the city by defeating Board of Alderman Chair Greg Smith for the 118th seat formerly held by Barbara Lambert and Jim Amann. It's not uncommon to feel a little stunned at the results on election night, but tonight is a good sort of stunned.

More on the returns

Just spoke to Liz Kerr about the results. She said that the towns reported in to the campaigns fairly early, and it was much closer than reflected in the reports or the polls. Once they counted them up, Debicella likely knew he had no chance at all with Bridgeport still to report, so he conceded rather than make everyone hold onto a hopeless dream.

Oh, and I'm sure there's a registrar or two 'round these parts that are breathing a little easier!

Results still don't reflect Jim's win

For some reason, while all the other races are reporting results, the 4th CD race still show numbers that reflect Debicella winning. I wonder how both Jim's and Dan's campaigns got accurate enough numbers to declare a victor, while every online source is showing a Debicella lead. Is the Bridgeport anomaly the reason?

Himes accepts the victory

While saying he went into tonight ready to "lose happily" due to the great work of his staff, he says that he is totally committed to continuing the work he's been doing in Washington.

Debicella conceeds! Himes WINS!

Just saw Dan Debicella give a concession speech. We're waiting for Jim Himes to appear on the podium. Pandemonium here at the Bridgeport HQ! More shortly!

Bill Finch on the ballot situation

I just spoke to Bridgeport mayor Bill Finch about the ballot situation. He said that now that the polls are closed, they need to make sure every vote is counted.

When I asked him who was responsible for ordering the ballots, he replied "the registrars of voters". Since there's a Republican and a Democratic registrar, I asked him how the decision is made. He replied that he wasn't aware of the way the decision is made, but he promised to look into it after the votes are counted.

Getting crowded here at Himes HQ

Waiting for updates on the numbers. Bridgeport is gonna be key in this race.

I should have tried to cage a few drink tickets from Liz before she disappeared. $5 a beer is fine for the working press, but I'm just a poor, unpaid blogger.

Guess I'll have to keep it down to a six-pack.

Little bit worried about the Gov's race, but it's early. Let's see some movement for Dan Malloy!

Linda McMahon conceeds

Woohoo! Thanks for spending $50 million in Connecticut! Don't let the door hit ya on the ass as you leave!

Video: Jim Himes discusses Bridgeport voting issue

Sorry about the quality, I had to reduce it to individual bytes for Youtube to handle it.

Youtube is killing me tonight!

For some reason Youtube is taking forever to process my videos. So, in the meantime, the polls are officially closed here in Bridgeport, and I expect the official results to start coming back in shortly.

Jim Himes about to discuss Bridgeport voting

Jim Himes watches returns coverage right before he addresses the media.

Somebody has got to ask this...

Who was the dummy that fucked up the ballot situation in Bridgeport? HOW MUCH DOES FUCKING PAPER COST? It literally DOES grow on trees, you know.

From Susan's press release:

There are nearly 70,000 registered voters in the city of Bridgeport. We learned from the registrars of voters in Bridgeport this afternoon that only 21,000 ballots were ordered for the city of Bridgeport for today’s election. We have always recommended to the Registrars of Voters to order enough ballots to cover every single registered voter within their jurisdiction if there was a 100% turnout.

If I know Bill Finch, there's gonna be blood ankle-deep in City Hall tomorrow.

Bpt. locations still open to 10PM

From the Himes campaign:

Due to the tremendous turnout and lack of ballots in Bridgeport a court has ordered the following poll sites stay open until 10 PM TONIGHT. It is absolutely critical that if you have not voted you go vote right now.

I am counting on you. President Obama said on Saturday how important it is for Bridgeport to vote. Please go vote before 10 PM tonight.

JFK CAMPUS, 700 Palisade Ave, Bridgeport, CT
BREADSLEY SCHOOL, 500 Huntington Rd, Bridgeport, CT
THOMAS HOOKER School, 138 Roger Williams Rd, Bridgeport, CT
HALLEN SCHOOL, Division Street, Bridgeport, CT
PARK CITY MAGNET, 1526 Chopsey Hill Road, Bridgeport, CT
READ MIDDLE SCHOOL, 130 Ezra Street, Bridgeport, CT
JOHN WINTHROP SCHOOL, 85 Eckart Street, Bridgeport, CT
BLACKHAM SCHOOL, 425 Thorme Street, Bridgeport, CT
CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, 1 Lincoln Blvd, Bridgeport, CT
LONGFELLOW SCHOOL, 139 Ocean Terrice, Bridgeport, CT
BLACK ROCK SCHOOL, 545 Brewster Street, Bridgeport, CT