Roberti Entices Potential Voters With Free Scoops In Avon

AVON—Few people can go out for two scoops of chocolate ice cream and still say they’re working.

But on a hot, sunny Monday afternoon six weeks before the Fifth District congressional primary, that’s exactly where the hard  campaign slog found Democratic candidate Dan Roberti, accompanied by a member of the Kennedy family.

Roberti

Roberti and Former Rhode Island congressman Patrick Kennedy served up discussions about jobs, fiscal policy and favorite flavors with supporters and walk-in customers at J. Foster Ice Cream in Avon on Monday.

The congressman endorsed Roberti in February and reiterated that support Monday—touting Roberti’s experience helping people recover from Hurricane Katrina in 2005—before getting a small ice cream sundae for himself.

“These days, people are looking for outsiders,” said Kennedy, the last member of his family to serve in Congress. “They’re looking for people who come with a new perspective that isn’t political.”

About 160 people got free scoops courtesy of the Roberti campaign. Roberti shook hands with nearly every person and engaged in lengthy conversations with small groups of people instead of giving a speech to the entire crowd.

“I’m absolutely the underdog,” Roberti tells one man in the shop. “But I think my chances for the primary look really good based on what I’ve been doing on the ground.”

Though he said he’s been knocking on doors for a year as part of his congressional effort, covering territory like Avon could be criticial for Roberti . Roberti, who has never held public office, is from the western town of Kent and has to work to make inroads in parts of the Fifth District closer to Hartford.

The district includes Simsbury and Meriden (the hometown of rival Democrat Chris Donovan) and stretches westward to Danbury and up to Salisbury.