Over at MyLeftNutmeg, there is an interesting discussion about who is supporting whom in the Connecticut Governor’s race and related races. I wrote a long comment that I posted there, and which I am sharing a version of here.

A little background: In 2005, after doing a lot of work on Gov. Dean's 2004 Presidential campaign and then my wife's 2004 State Rep race, I was recruited to be Blogmaster for New Haven Mayor John DeStefano. I think it is fair to say that in 2005 and 2006 there was similar division amongst progressives between DeStefano and Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy. Malloy was coming off of some political issues that had slowed down his campaign. I lived in Stamford, I was friends with Dan, and my daughter had worked on his campaign. However, I have great respect for Mayor DeStefano as well and I accepted the opportunity to work on his campaign.

I took an awful lot of heat inside the campaign because I was strongly opposed to going negative on Malloy. I would even write good things about Malloy, talking about how he was a good candidate, but DeStefano was better.

I left DeStefano's campaign to become the technology coordinator for Ned Lamont’s 2006 U.S. Senate campaign. My wife, Kim and I were two of the first people that Ned hired for his campaign, and we have remained good friends ever since.

Given that Kim works for Common Cause, she needs to stay further out of the race than I do. As a lobbyist, and the spouse of a lobbyist, we cannot be involved in fundraising activities. As an employee of a non-partisan organization, Kim needs to be even more removed from the day to day campaign process.

With that, let me provide a few thoughts on the race. For Governor, I like both Dan and Ned a lot. I also liked Ridgefield First Selectmen Rudy Marconi's early campaign ads about campaign finance reform, but his positions on tort reform fell a bit flat. I don't know Simsbury First Selectwoman Mary Glassman or Juan Figueroa as well, but have heard lots of good things about both of them. (More on Glassman in a minute).

From a policy view point, there are many things that I like about Dan much more than I like about Ned. He has remained strong on campaign finance reform, and is expected to announce that he is the first gubernatorial candidate to qualify for campaign funding today. I've liked his statements on paid sick days and the death penalty much more than what I've heard from Ned.

On the other hand, if it comes down to a race between wealthy men from Fairfield county, we might be better off having Ned take on Republican candidate Tom Foley than Dan, and Ned has used this to explain his opting out of the Citizen's Election Program. Ned has also made some very good statements addressing the financial issues our state faces and how he would address them.

So, as it stands right now, I am neutral in the race. I support both Dan and Ned. However, if we see any silly attack ads, like “DeStefano in a Dress” ads from the Malloy campaign in 2006, it will push me more towards the person being attacked than the attacker.

Now, on to the Lieutenant Governor’s race: On Monday, Ned is expected to announce that Mary Glassman will be his running mate. People will remember that Glassman was Dan's running mate in the primary last time around. However, since we vote for the Governor and Lieutenant Governor separately, Glassman received enough Lieutenant Governor votes to be Mayor DeStefano's running mate in the general election.

It will be interesting to see what happens this time. Will Malloy take Kevin Lembo as a running mate? It seems like the best choice and makes for another interesting primary. Will we see people split tickets and vote for Lamont/Lembo or Malloy/Glassman? As with the Governor's race, I don't have a strong favorite in the Lt. Governor's race, although at the moment, I'm probably leaning towards Lembo. Then there is the question of what happens with Figueroa. Will he manage to petition his way onto the ballot? Who will he have as a running mate?

Now, on to the Attorney General’s race: I have been friends with both George Jepsen and Susan Bysiewicz for quite a while. I've posted here some of my thoughts about how I believe the attacks on Bysiewicz are ill-founded. I don't know State Representative Cam Staples. Forgetting the attacks on Bysiewicz, for a moment, I still believe that George would probably make a better Attorney General than Susan. My sense is that Susan is good in the spotlight, but that George is better on the issues and better on the nuts and bolts of lawyering. In addition, as a supporter of the Citizen's Election Program, I was very disappointed that Bysiewicz opted out. She doesn't have any reasonable excuse, the way Lamont does.

For Secretary of State: I've spoken a fair amount with both Connecticut House Majority Leader Denise Merrill and former New Haven Alderman Gerry Garcia. They have both called into Fiona's Radio Show and done good jobs there. While there has been some concern expressed about Rep. Merrill's support of election day registration, I find that she has always been a strong supporter of finding methods to reliably increase voter turnout, and I think when you get right down to it, the differences between Denise and Gerry are not substantial on this topic. One of Gerry's talking points is that he would bring more Latino's to the voting booths. I think this is a strong point on his side. I don't know State Sen. Jonathan Harris as well. I do know that he has been a community access television producer in West Hartford, and I'm a strong supporter of community access television. But beyond that, he has yet to excite me with his campaign. I've been wavering between leaning Merrill and leaning Garcia. To me, it is a toss-up and depending on my mood at any moment, I'm leaning towards one or the other of them. I don't think we have to worry about negative ads in this race, but again, my comments about anyone going negative losing my support holds.

So, these are my thoughts this Sunday morning. I would not be surprised to see them shift by this afternoon based on comments here and other places.

As a final comment, I hope that many of my readers are going as delegates to the convention. If not, I hope some of you can get press passes. This should be a great convention.

P.S. Comments are welcome, but please, keep them civil. I will remove uncivil comments.