OK…so I skipped doorknocking to attend Tuesday night’s Mayoral forum. Who could resist. It’s like channel surfing and stopping to see Nascar racing for three minutes in hopes of seeing a crash. The possibilities of fisticuffs breaking out between the candidates individual posse’s are enormous. No such hilarities ensued but it was funny watching poor Tom Conden try to corral the crowd time and time again. This ain’t Avon Tom! This is politics Hartford style. Raw passion with the hint of fear of losing your job.
The six candidates were there (I. Charles, Thirman, Eddie, Stam, Minnie, and Raul.) I won’t go into play by play but one thing that tends to be a constant in these things locally and nationally is the feeling that an incumbent can only “lose” these things. That being said, I don’t think Eddie “lost” anything. He was put on the hot seat regarding the perception of cronyism and patronage under his administration, but the LIEberman duo of Curran and Hennessey prep’d him enough to say his usual “judge me on my whole record” schpeel.
Urban Compass posted a good synopsis on the forum along with what ends up being an interesting look at how this gumbo we call Hartford politics is seen from the eyes of a newcomer. She also has good links to our friend Kerri at RealHartford, and a Dan Goren article on stuff…
CTNewsJunkie.com also has an indepth take no the forum here…
I’m taking a class on Tuesday nights, so I missed this, sadly. The moderators that they’ve had for these do not seem like they belong as part of the activities. It’s like outsider looking in almost.
Hey I saw you were on the ballot so I voted due to the fact that I didn’t know anybody else except the mayoral candidates and Ritter, who I didn’t know so….I voted for you, seem to have a good view of Hartford