Last night, the Shoreline League of Democratic Women (SLDW) sponsored a "Democratic Campaign Mall”. It was a celebration of local politics, with a special emphasis on women entering local politics.

The first hour of the event was provided attendees to mingle and find out about people running for local office as well as visit tables set up supporting five of the Presidential candidates. At least three Board of Education candidates were there, including Joan Johanson of Clinton, David A. Stevenson of Bethel and Matt Cooper of Essex. Matt’s wife is due any moment and I didn’t get a chance to speak with him. However, I did get a brief chance to speak with both Joan and David.

Neither had been following the Avery Doninger case closely, but they had both heard of it and knew the general issues. As such they didn’t have any specific comments about the case other than generally upholding freedom of speech, particularly when the speech takes place away from school grounds.

In other discussions during this period, one educator commented about how school superintendents around the state spend inordinate amounts of time speaking with their lawyers and another person noted that schools, particular at the high school view any contact from parents as disruptive. Perhaps if they viewed contact with parents as an important part of their job they would need to spend less taxpayer money on lawyers.

As would be expected from any Democratic gathering in Connecticut, certain notable statewide figures appeared to offer some initial comments. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal focused on the theme of local candidates, telling them, “You are the ones that determine the future of your communities”. He went on to say, “We’re still a small state… The grassroots mobilization really counts… One person talking to another can make all the difference in the world.”

As he spoke about tough battles he has taken on for the people of Connecticut, he sure sounded like a potential gubernatorial candidate, tying things together with, “I know that Democrats in this room and around the state are for the people”.

State Comptroller Nancy Wyman was the next to speak and started off asking the crowd, “Wouldn’t he make a great governor?” and comparing him to Eliot Spitzer, the new Governor of New York who was a tough attorney general before taking that position.

Nancy then returned to the theme of local politics and talked about starting off on the Board of Education before becoming a State Representative and now State Comptroller. She continued the theme of local candidates being on the spot, the way candidates at the state level are not. She talked about how when she was on the Board of Education, it would take forever for her to get out of the supermarket, but now she passes almost unnoted.

Philip Miller, First Selectman of Essex was next to speak and related the story of Fredrick Douglas responding to a Harvard Freshman when asked what to do with his life, saying “Agitate, Agitate, Agitate”.

Laurie Santos, the new President of SLDW followed on by quoting Ella Grasso, “It is not enough to express faith in the democratic process, we must do something about it”. This came as part of the introduction of State Senator Eileen Daily.

Senator Daily started off by asking, “Didn’t you wish Attorney General Blumenthal were here to make a special announcement?” She then spoke about growing up in a family where everyone was expected to be politically involved. “Every election night was the excitement of Christmas and Hanukah combined”.

She spoke about her early years as an elected official. She too, was a Board of Education member and she described the Board of Education as “a fantastic learning ground for compromise”. It is too bad that this attitude isn’t shown by more Board of Education members, and perhaps this is some of the reason Senator Daily has climbed up through the ranks to become Deputy President Pro Tempore.

This commitment to local political involvement continued all the way up through the Presidential level. Senator Daily encouraged people to get out and volunteer for Senator Dodd’s presidential bid. Chuck Swirsky was there representing the Dodd campaign. Stephen Wilmarth was there with a group of people supporting Obama. I was there supporting Edwards, David A. Stevenson and Sal Liccione were there on behalf of the Kucinich campaign and Kerry Szeps was there on behalf of the Clinton campaign. All of these are people that I have met on the campaign trail in Connecticut over the past few years and are friends. It was great to see all of them at the event bridging the local and the national.

(Cross posted at MyLfetNutmeg)