Could U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd wind up in the president's office at UConn?
 
The university will soon have an opening at the top and the state's senior senator will soon be looking for a job.
 
One prominent politico in the state, who wished to remain anonymous, says there are already "serious conversations" about Dodd landing in Storrs.
 
Dodd's office says he's too busy with the financial reform overhaul right now to worry about his post-Senate career plans.

"The Senator believes that Michael Hogan has been a strong leader of the University and that the next President will be able to pick up right where he left off,'' Dodd spokesman Bryan DeAngelis said in an email.

"Senator Dodd is focused on passing his Wall Street reform bill, which is currently being debated in the Senate. He is not focused on what he will do after his Senate term ends in January."

The Courant columnist delivers a stinging rebuke of the soon-to-depart UConn president.

"To walk out on his Connnecticut commitment not even three years into his tenure at UConn means Hogan did not come close to achieving the goals he was hired to achieve,'' Green writes before concluding that Hogan failed "the character test."

The court has agreed to expediate the appeal. Legal briefs are due on Friday.

The court decision is  here.

Pat Scully says former lieutenant governor and state Sen. President Kevin Sullivan, a Democrat from West Hartford, is interested in the comptroller's office, now that incumbent Nancy Wyman is running for lieutenant governor.

Scully, who used to work for the guy, reports the news on his blog, The Hanging Shad.

If Sullivan does make a run, he would join Democrats Kevin Lembo and state Rep. Tom Reynolds, along with a few others who have not formally announced yet.  

Former University of Connecticut's trustee Lewis B. Rome says the process of finding a replacement for departing President Michael Hogan is just beginning.

But Rome wasn't reticent when asked what he thought about U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd as UConn's next president. The Democratic senator announced in January that he will not seek reelection when his term expires at the end of the year.

"With regard to Sen. Dodd, it's an extraordinary opportunity for the university,'' Rome, who is a Republican, said this afternoon. "I think it would be a terrific thing."

Rome cited Dodd's celebrity status, his deep connections with world leaders and other powerful people and his proven ability to raise large sums of cash as pluses.

Dixon is reporting that the Ridgefield first selectman will drop his gubernatorial bid. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Marconi did in fact drop out this morning. He's throwing his support to the Lamont-Glassman ticket.

"We have some challenging days ahead of us, but I believe that with hard work and the right leadership, they can also be great days. That's why I support Ned Lamont and Mary Glassman,'' Marconi said in a release put out by the Lamont campaign. "I've spent a lot of time with Ned and Mary on the campaign trail, and both of them have impressed me with their experience, their bright ideas and their grasp of the issues that face our towns and our state."

South Windsor Democratic Town Chairman Tony Duarte says he was surprised to see his committee on Merrick Alpert's list of DTCs that have denied him the right to speak.

Duarte, who has been chairman since March, says he has never spoken to Alpert or anyone associated with his U.S. Senate campaign. And neither had the former town chair.

"I would never deny any candidate who wants to meet with delegates the chance to come to a town committee meeting,'' Duarte said. "If he had asked, I definitely would have honored the request."

South Windsor Democrats have hosted a steady parade of candidates since last fall, Duarte said, "We've had three candidates a month come in.''

The town committee has not made a formal endorsement in the U.S. Senate race, but Duarte said he watched a dvd of the March debate between Alpert and Richard Blumenthal and he was impressed with Alpert's performance.

"I have nothing against the man...I thought he did a nice job,'' Duarte said of Alpert.

In an email to supporters this afternoon, Will Gregory announces that he's abandoning his bid for Congress from the 4th District.

"Over the past few weeks...it has become clear to me that there are other candidates in this race who are better financially equipped to defeat Jim Himes in November and, therefore, promote in Washington the principles for which I am fighting,'' Gregory writes. "For this reason, I have made the very difficult decision to end my candidacy for the United States Congress."

Gregory is not endorsing Dan Debicella, Tom Hermann, Rick Torres or Rob Merkle -- the remaining Republicans in the race --- but says he has told them that he will support them all equally.

"I ask that you support the other candidates in this race with the same passion and vigor that you have put forward for me,'' Gregory writes. "In any primary, it can be easy to give in to the idea that other candidates are opponents.  Ultimately, however, we are all united behind a common set of ideals.  Please continue working toward our goal of a freer and more prosperous Fairfield County and America by helping them get elected, as I will."

Scrutinizing Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal's most recent campaign finance disclosure report, state GOP chairman Chris Healy must have felt as though he hit the lottery.

Right there, in black and white, was a $2,400 donation from one Robert J. Katz, a New Yorker whose occupation was listed as senior director of the Goldman Sachs Group.

In the current climate, with Goldman Sachs facing a civil suit lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission (and according to today's New York Times, an investigation by New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo as well), few politicians are eager to be publicly linked to the firm.

Moreover, Blumenthal has taken a hard-line stance toward Goldman - he said the SEC's allegations read like a "Sopranos" episode and has begun a preliminary review to determine whether the Connecticut Attorney General's office will pursue its own investigation.
 

Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele, a Republican running for governor, picked up Chris Shays' endorsement on Friday.

Shays had been considering his own gubernatorial bid at one point. But he now says Fedele is the best man for the job.

"I have known Mike Fedele for over thirty years and there is no candidate who is better prepared for the enormous job of being the next Governor of Connecticut," Chris Shays said in a news release touting the endorsement. 
 
"Mike has demonstrated his commitment through a lifetime of public service on the Stamford Board of Representatives, the Republican Town Committee, and as a State Representative.  Mike did all this while supporting his family and building his business because it is important to him to give back to this country for all that it has given him." 

Despite his warm words of praise, Shays won't be voting for Fedele: the former congressman now lives in St. Michaels, Maryland.

In more endorsement news, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont and his running mate, Mary Glassman, have received the backing of the 10,000-member United Auto Workers Union. The UAW also endorsed Lamont's Senate run against Joe Lieberman in 2006.

"Connecticut's working families need real change, UAW Assistant Director Julie Kushner said in a press release. "We want a team that will put people before politics...Connecticut needs leaders with a clear vision for working families and the state's changing economy."

The UAW also endorsed Democrat Kevin Lembo, who is running for state comptroller.

Combing through the Courant's archives earlier this week, I came across a number of stories about Nancy Wyman's inaugural run for comptroller.

Prominent in several of the stories was the hang-wringing of Democratic insiders over the perceived lack of ethnic and religious balance of the party's 1994 slate. That year, the ticket included four Jewish candidates: Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Miles Rapoport, running for secretary of the state, and Wyman.

Former party Chairman Ed Marcus was among those talking about it. "I'd like to say the day has ended when it makes any difference whether someone is Jewish or Catholic or black, but I suppose one has to say, even in 1994, to an extent it does,'' Marcus, who is himself Jewish, said in a news story at the time. ``It is something that has come up in conversations with a number of town chairs and others. It's something that has been talked about.''

Wyman, who one columnist clumsily described as "of Jewish heritage, although not a practicing Jew," said at the time that it shouldn't matter.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton is scheduled to drop out of the governor's race Monday and join the ticket of Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele, sources said Sunday night.

Boughton had been seen by insiders as running third for the Republican nomination for governor behind Fedele and former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley of Greenwich, who have been widely viewed as the two GOP front runners.

As the longest-serving Republican mayor in Danbury's history, Boughton has been on the stump in the governor's race for months, serving up one-liners and touting Danbury as Connecticut's safest city.

The Fedele campaign declined to make the announcement Sunday night, but said that Fedele "will announce his selection of a running mate'' at 10:30 a.m. Monday at the state Capitol.

Boughton has been battling for the nomination with the two front runners, as well as longtime business executive Oz Griebel of Simsbury, financial analyst Christopher Duffy Acevedo of Branford, and former U.S. Rep. Larry DeNardis of Hamden.

While the delegate counts have been fluid, delegate-counters report that Fedele and Foley have roughly the same number of votes and Boughton has been in third place. Boughton's hometown of Danbury, which is the eighth-largest city in the state, has 28 delegates. In addition, he had strong support in the Greater Danbury area and from his days as a state legislator in Hartford. Some insiders say that Boughton had the requisite 15 percent of the delegates to qualify for a primary.

Boughton has followed in the footsteps of his father, who also previously served as Danbury's mayor and as a state legislator from the districts - posts that his son later won.

Besides relying on Boughton's delegates to help push him toward the nomination, Fedele will receive the benefit of an entirely new base of campaign contributors to help Fedele raise the necessary $250,000 that is required to qualify for public financing. Fedele is about 80 percent toward the goal, and public financing could bring him as much as $2.5 million for an expected primary in August.

The financing is crucial for Fedele because he is running against Foley, a multi-millionaire who has already poured $2 million of his own money into the campaign. Foley is also raising money under the old rules, meaning that he is turning down public financing and is instead collecting as much as $3,500 per person from contributors.

While the delegate count is said to be close, Foley has been far ahead in the public polls. The latest Quinnipiac University poll showed Foley with about 30 percent of those polled, while Fedele was far behind at about 4 percent.

Foley, a Harvard graduate who has never held public office and has more than two decades of business experience, has been broadcasting television commercials on a regular basis - dating back to his initial run in the U.S. Senate race and then continuing when he switched to the governor's race. Fedele, by contrast, has not been running a similar TV blitz but instead has focused on the Fox News Channel, News 12 in Fairfield County and the "Morning Joe'' program on MSNBC in an attempt to reach conservative Republicans and delegates in a targeted television campaign.

Besides Linda McMahon in the U.S. Senate race, Foley has been on television as much as any candidate in the race. Democrat Ned Lamonthas recently burst onto the scene with an advertising blitz, as well as extensive advertising on Internet sites.

The endorsement by Boughton would provide a boost for Fedele as he heads into Saturday's convention in Hartford and would come on the heels of recent endorsements by former U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, House Republican leader Larry Cafero of Norwalk, Stratford Mayor John Harkins, and two former state GOP chairmen - Chris DePino and George Gallo. 

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton pledged Monday that he will be a full partner as lieutenant governor if he is elected on the ticket with Republican Michael Fedele.

Fedele introduced Boughton as his running mate, saying that they intend to capture the nomination at Saturday's Republican convention in Hartford.

But Boughton said after the announcement that they are planning a whole new structure for the lieutenant governor's office than Fedele has had under Gov. M. Jodi Rell.

"I think he hasn't been frankly utilized the way he should have been utilized in the previous administration,'' Boughton said. "We've made a commitment that we'll never run the lieutenant governor's office like that again. You'll be hearing from me. I'll be vocal, and I'll be Mike's full partner in managing this state. ... The bottom line is this will be much, much more than a ceremonial post. And I think the taxpayers deserve more, for $110,000 [per year in salary], than somebody that cuts ribbons and kisses babies.''

While Rell and Fedele have appeared at numerous news conferences together over the past three years, Rell has repeatedly refused to publicly endorse Fedele for governor. That has caused some consternation among Fedele supporters and questions among Republican voters.

"Certainly, that's her decision,'' Boughton said when asked about Rell's non-endorsement of Fedele. "But you know what? Frankly, I'm not a big believer in endorsements. ... It's the endorsement of the voters that is the most important thing. The rest of it is just window-dressing.''

When asked, after Boughton's comments, if he has been underutilized in the Rell administration, Fedele said, "Well, we all have our different styles. When I wasn't being used, I went out and did my own stuff, which is economic development and reaching out to veterans and things of that nature. As you know, constitutionally, this is a part-time job. I have not worked it as a part-time job. I have been a full-time lieutenant governor. ... There was more in me than I probably was utilized for. But again, that's a different style.''

In a blog post this afternoon, Kevin Rennie writes about the curious triangle that has developed bteween Rob Simmons, Linda McMahon and former U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor.

O'Connor gave a $250 campaign contribution to Simmons but three weeks later, he endorsed McMahon.

"Mahon's acceptance of the endorsement of a former law enforcement official suggests she thinks she still hasn't provided convincing responses to persistent stories about the steroid-infested professional wrestling division of show business,'' Rennie writes.

In the past, O'Connor has taken a hard-line on steroids. In 2007, he busted a state man and five others who were peddling the drugs on MySpace.

"The dangers associated with the improper use of steroids and human growth hormone are well documented," O'Connor said in a press release trumpeting the charges.

Tom Foley of Greenwich - who is leading the Republican race for governor in the polls - announced Monday that he will be arriving at Saturday's state party convention without a running mate.

Instead, he said he would serve with Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton or whomever wins the Republican primary for lieutenant governor on August 10.

"Let the Republican primary voters decide,'' Foley said in an interview Monday. "I don't want to be cutting deals and short-circuiting the process. ... Let the primary voters decide and not the gubernatorial candidate.''

Boughton was introduced Monday as Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele's running mate as they pledged their support to each other. Foley, though, said he would serve with the 46-year-old Boughton if they both win their respective primary races this summer.

"Mark Boughton is well qualified to be lieutenant governor,'' Foley said.

If he wins the primary and eventually runs with Boughton in the general election in the fall, Foley said, "I don't want it to look like he wasn't my choice.''

Foley said he would also serve with Lisa Wilson-Foley of Simsbury if she wins the lieutenant governor's primary - even though "I don't know a whole lot about her.''

After establishing a detailed vetting process six weeks ago, Foley's campaign contacted a number of Republicans recently and asked them if they would be interested in becoming lieutenant governor. But Foley emphasized that none of them had been offered the job. He eventually decided that the primary voters should decide.

Foley said there is a major difference between being asked if you are interested in a particular position and then actually being offered the job.

Two of those reportedly on Foley's list - state Rep. Pam Z. Sawyer of Bolton and state Rep. Penny Bacchiochi of Somers - both showed up Monday at the state Capitol press conference where Fedele introduced Boughton as his running mate.

"I endorsed Fedele before Foley got into the campaign,'' Sawyer told Capitol Watch. "I'm sure he's picking someone else.''