Jerry Labriola won’t give up.
The Republican state chairman is still working hard in his quest to convince Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign that Connecticut is a winnable state and is worth the effort for the campaign. Labriola has been engaged in extensive talks with the campaign to get Romney and vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan to make retail campaign stops with the general public in the Nutmeg State.
So far, it has not happened.
“The Romney folks, in our discussion, have agreed to take a second look at Connecticut at my urging,” Labriola told Capitol Watch in an interview. “There’s been no commitments. It could come late. There could be a redirection of effort from one state to another.”
Connecticut needs an official designation from the Romney campaign before money, paid staff, and volunteers would pour into the state.
“You’re either targeted or you’re not targeted. There’s no middle ground,” Labriola said. ”As of now, we’re not targeted. It’s just not part of the plan. … I just don’t have them there yet. I wish I did. But they’ve committed to take a second look.”
After Labriola said last month that he was trying to get Romney to come to Connecticut as a battleground state, national analyst Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia said it would never happen because Connecticut would remain as a blue state. No Republican has carried the state in Connecticut since 1988 when it was done by then-Vice President George H.W. Bush, whose mother, brother, and aunt were still living in Greenwich at the time.
During the 2000 presidential race, then-candidate George W. Bush of Texas came to Connecticut and conducted one-on-one interviews with print and television reporters. That included an interview with The Hartford Courant in June 2000 that had a total audience of four – Bush, a reporter, one Secret Service agent who stood quietly in the back of the room, and Bush’s longtime aide, Karen Hughes.
In addition, Bush supporters also campaigned in Connecticut and granted interviews with the press. Those included his wife, Laura Bush, at a hotel in downtown Bridgeport during the final days before the March primary and former presidential candidate Elizabeth Dole in February 2000 at the Hartford Club.
By contrast, Romney has had no interviews on the ground with Connecticut reporters, despite traveling here multiple times for fundraisers.
“In 2000, Connecticut was targeted,” Labriola said.
He added, “It’s an Electoral College game. The Electoral College is alive and well.”
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3 Responses to GOP’s Jerry Labriola Still Trying To Get Mitt Romney Into Connecticut
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Enfield is exceedingly well-positioned to host a Romney-Ryan rally. There are a variety of reasons why Enfield is a good site:
Logistics: Enfield is located less than 15 minutes away from Bradley International Airport, which would facilitate the quick appearance and departure of the candidates. Our Town Green is built for political theatre– the Enfield mall is located two blocks away from it, supplying thousands of parking spaces for rally attendees. Additionally, the Town Green is located less than .25 miles away from I-91. This is exceedingly convenient for out-of-town supporters. Due to our geographic location on the Massachusetts border, the rally will draw supporters from Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Loyalty: Enfield is one of a handful of Connecticut towns that supporter Gov. Romney in BOTH 2008 and 2012. We saw what Romney did in Massachusetts and wished it was happening here in the Constitution state.
Political: In statewide elections, Enfield is generally a bell-weather because the percentage of registered Democrats, Republicans, and Unaffiliateds is very close to the statewide percentage. http://connecticutlocalpolitics.blogspot.com/2006/04/enfield-center-of-political-universe_20.html Additionally, there is a large population of Reagan Democrats in Enfield who voted for Barack Obama and have turned on him. Anti-incumbent sentiment is high here and Romney-Ryan are prime beneficiaries of it. The anti-incumbent sentiment is so pervasive that our longtime state representative, Kathy Tallarita was primaried out of her seat by a fellow-democrat. The Republican Party is ascendant in Enfield– we have a Republican Mayor and Republican Council that have kept taxes flat for five years. After decades of Democratic dominance, the tide is turning in a significant way.
Winning big in Enfield is key to Linda McMahon’s victory strategy. Murphy completely skipped Enfield during the primaries and has not made a single appearance in town. If Romney-Ryan make an appearance in town, it will help gin up voter turnout to the benefit of Linda McMahon.
Demographics: Enfield is the capital of North Central Connecticut and the capital of the 2nd Congressional District. We’re the most populous town in Connecticut’s most rural Congressional District. We stand atop Connecticut’s agricultural heartland and are thus a key location for the party’s base-turnout efforts. Winning the hearts and minds of white working-class voters is key to a Romney victory in Connecticut. Most residents have ethnic immigrant roots. Enfield also has a very dominant and active Catholic population that would respond well to a Romney visit, particularly given Obama’s front assault on the Catholic Church. The demographics of surrounding communities are similar.
We’re a large suburb with a small-town atmosphere, where people will be exceedingly receptive to a Romney visit.
In the past four years, I have personally registered over five-hundred new Republican voters– showing the intensity of interest here in town.
Dominic Alaimo
With the left wing media head wind that is an integral part of Connecticut, I think Romney would better spend his money in the light blue states where there are more electoral votes. Connecticut has too many moochers and union sympathizers for anyone that believes in personal responsibility to have a chance to hold any political office.
In case you have not noticed Lee even Real Clear Politics has had Ct up as a light blue/leaning state for about a month now. The Hartford Courant poll released today is a piece of garbage and I am surprised that they even published the thing. Even the village idiot knows that there is a greater number of unaffiliated voters in the state than either Democrats or Republicans, but to make the big win look possible for Obama here they only poll 9% unaffiliated and over 45% Democrat? The reason they did this is because the unaffiliated show a tendency to lean Romney this time around.