The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Candidates make last push before primary
Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton door-knocked in the Torrington drizzle.
Ned Lamont shook hands in a “Dominican” baseball cap at a West Indian independence celebration in Hartford.
Tim Herbst held his own umbrella and talked retail politics, one-on-one, outside a Bethlehem barn.
David Stemerman accepted a latebreaking endorsement and greeted voters in Fairfield, while Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim adjusted to a morning rainout in his city, then attended a charity baseball game in Hartford, a city he needs if he is to defeat Democratic Party favorite Lamont.
Republican Steve Obsitnik, a
Westport tech executive, picnicked with the Wallingford VFW. Bob Stefanowski warmed up for 24 hours of campaigning that will take him into Monday rush hour.
If the race for governor is a marathon, this weekend marks the wet, final sprint for the five Republicans and two Democrats who hope to win Tuesday’s primaries.
Most of the state’s seven gubernatorial candidates crisscrossed the state in the rain Saturday, hoping their final get-out-the-vote efforts and face-to-face retail politics might secure them spots on the November ballot. They will be making multiple daily appearances through Monday.
With as many as half of the eligible voters still undecided, a few votes here and there could mean the difference, at least for Republicans.
Deciding time
“Most voters make up their minds during get-outthe-vote,” said Gayle Alberda, assistant professor of political science at Fairfield University, describing the frenzied last days before voting. “It’s going to come down to the ground game — who can mobilize their voters and get them to the polls on Tuesday.”
“We’re going to go flatout,” said Lamont, the Democratic-endorsed candidate, who campaigned from New London to Bristol on Friday before focusing his efforts on Hartford and New Haven over the weekend. “Run like you’re five points behind. People want you to do that. They want you to earn it.”
The Greenwich businessman, who is self-funding his campaign, has been in the public eye since 2006, when he defeated U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman in the contentious 2006 primary. People know him and remember him, Lamont said.
Boughton, too, displayed an ease that comes from years of campaigning, including two elections to the General Assembly and nearly 18 years as Danbury’s mayor. The GOP-endorsed candidate chose going door-to-door as his final pre-primary weekend strategy because that’s how he’s campaigned for mayor every two years, going back to 2001.
“Nothing is better than person-to-person contact,” Boughton said. “This is what I’m used to doing.”
Herbst, the former Trumbull first selectman, working the crowds at the Made in Connecticut Expo at the Bethlehem fairgrounds, said Saturday afternoon he believes the margin of victory on Tuesday could be 2,000 votes.
“Touching people directly, especially if they are undecided — I think this can make the difference,” Herbst, wearing a golf windbreaker, said from under his dripping umbrella. “That’s why I’m sleeping only about three hours a night and running all over the place.”
Rained out
Ganim’s Saturday was scheduled to start in Bridgeport’s South End, where a new playground named in honor of University of Connecticut basketball legend Diana Taurasi, a star on the WNBA’s Phoenix team, was to open across from a dilapidated section of the Marina Village housing complex that is slated for demolition.
A steady rain canceled the event, but there remained several other highprofile appearances for Ganim in North Haven, Hartford, and finally, some potential for an encounter with Lamont at the Puerto Rican festival in New Haven.
At about 2:30, Stemerman visited the Spic & Span Market, a hub in Fairfield’s upscale Southport village, meeting state Sen. Tony Hwang, who introduced the former Greenwich hedge-fund manager to the owners, then offered his endorsement to the political newcomer.
With about 20 supporters and staffers looking on, Stemerman complimented the Taiwan-born Hwang, whose parents escaped Communist China. Stemerman then went through a greatest-hits version of his stump speech.
“I view that the next governor has two key responsibilities,” Stemerman said. “The first one is to save our state from a financial crisis. On the other hand, I view that this state is one with tremendous potential.”
Stefanowski, a former corporate executive from Madison, greeted voters in North Haven Saturday morning, in preparation for his 24-hour campaigning blitz planned for 7 a.m. Sunday to 7 a.m. Monday, when he plans to visit all eight counties, nonstop, in a political all-nighter livestreamed on Facebook.
On Sunday, Obsitnik will join his father, Vincent Obsitnik, at the Czeck Club, 125 Center St. in downtown Shelton, to host a noon forum on “Old World Thoughts, New World Perspectives.”