Earlier this week Secretary of State Denise Merrill ruled that Bridgeport mayor Bill Finch was not eligible for a ballot spot with the "Job Creation Party" because they didn't meet the September 2nd deadline to submit a letter of endorsement for their candidate.
In other words, in order for Finch to appear on the November ballot, the party would have had to endorse him in writing before the September 16th mayoral primary.
This is a requirement that was likely put in effect some time after the 2006 Senate race here in Connecticut, when Sen. Joe Lieberman was allowed to register as an independent candidate AFTER losing the primary election. Drawing nearly 70% of the Republican vote due to the Connecticut Republican Party refusing to campaign for their endorsed candidate Alan Schlesinger (and thusly reaching an apogee of hypocrisy not matched since) Lieberman rode to a decisive win in the general election over Democratic upstart candidate Ned Lamont. Schlesinger only received about 10% of the popular vote, which is completely unheard of in Connecticut history. Even that piece of shit Philip Giordano got about a third of the vote in the 2000 senate race. So for the Republicans to turn their back on their own candidate in 2006 was totally unprecedented.
And then Lieberman went on to inflict as much damage to the Democratic party as possible when he spent all of 2008 vigorously campaigning for John McCain and criticizing Barack Obama.
Primaries should matter!
And now, they do.
I think it's reprehensible that a felon convicted of corruption won the mayoral primary. But the voters in Bridgeport made their choice. And losing fair and square is a thing. Finch lost fair and square. He should step back, admit defeat, and work on winning his next contest.
Because in Bridgeport, old mayors never fade away...they always seem to come back.
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