A dozen for governor

At the moment, there are a dozen candidates, seven Republicans and five Democrats, vying for the honor of running a state facing a $3 billion dollar deficit shortly after the winner’s inauguration, and most voters probably can’t name more than two or three of them.

Let me emphasize this is not the fault of the voters. The candidates have been coming and going at a rapid pace for the open office and most of them, except for one of the rich ones, are not making much of an impression. The dozen actually represents a reduction in the field as there would now be 15 if three candidates hadn’t already dropped out. The dropouts include Susan Bysiewicz, the early Democratic front runner who quit the race to run for attorney general, a lesser office for which she may not be qualified.

And let’s not forget Chris Shays, the last living Republican congressman in New England, until he was defeated in 2008. Shays made some noise about his interest in being governor but dropped out before he dropped in, partly because his residence is now in Maryland.

Gov. Rell, who isn’t running for re-election, has declined to endorse a successor, telling a Connecticut Post reporter last week she was waiting to see if more Republicans enter the race, as if seven weren’t enough. These are strange times.

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The Democratic candidates for governor, in alphabetic order, are: Juan Figueroa, a former legislator and civil rights and health-care activist; Nan Glassman, Simsbury first selectman; Ned Lamont, Greenwich businessman; Dan Malloy, former Stamford mayor; and Rudy Marconi, Ridgefield first selectman.

The Republicans, also alphabetically, are: Mark Boughton, Danbury mayor; Larry DeNardis, former Congressman and college president; Michael Fedele, lieutenant governor; Tom Foley, Greenwich businessman; Oz Griebel, Simsbury businessman; Thomas Marsh, Chester first selectman; and Jeff Wright, Newington first selectman.

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There is speculation that some of the 12 may actually be hoping to attract enough attention to become someone’s lieutenant governor, preferably the winner’s. In this category, one might find some of the more obscure selectmen like Republicans Marsh and Wright and Democrat Marconi.

Another lieutenant governor possibility is Figueroa, who is the first Puerto Rican candidate for governor from a major party, but who might settle for being the first lieutenant governor. Figueroa says he is going to get the signatures of 15,000 valid voters to get on the November ballot instead of seeking just 15 percent of the Democratic convention delegates. This has never been done before, mainly because it is the harder way to get the nomination.

Then there’s DeNardis, who is certainly not looking to be lieutenant governor after being a Congressman and college president, but whose wealth of experience almost matches his wealth of years, as he will celebrate his 72nd birthday this month. When someone goes to a candidate forum and speaks of his service as a Reagan undersecretary and a veteran of the Meskill tax wars, he tends to date himself.

Finally, we have Fedele, Rell’s handpicked lieutenant governor but definitely not her handpicked successor, despite erroneously insisting he had her endorsement early in the campaign. That is a good way to end a campaign on the launching pad.

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And so, with these guys relegated to “probably not†status, we are left with six of the more likely candidates for your consideration. The Democrats would start with Lamont, the Greenwich millionaire, not to be confused with Republican Foley, the Greenwich millionaire. Lamont is best known for being against the Iraq War and losing a race for the Senate to Joe Lieberman four years ago. Next is Malloy, a successful mayor of Stamford who tried and failed to win the party nomination in 2006, and the darker horse is Glassman, a successful, four-term first selectman from Simsbury.

For the Republicans, we have the aforementioned Foley, whose money is already talking in TV ads. Next come Griebel, who is actually coming up with interesting ideas about running the state, and Boughton, a conventional anti-tax and spend Republican who has been more adept than his fellow unknowns at picking up endorsements.

All this is subject to change if a front runner falters or a second-tier resident suddenly catches fire. It is, as they say, early.

Dick Ahles is a retired journalist from Simsbury. E-mail him at dahles@hotmail.com.