With long-term incumbents being driven out of office across the country, the 2010 election has become the year of the outsider.
No matter how educated or connected they are, all five candidates for Connecticut governor say they are outsiders. That self-proclaimed moniker is made even though four of them have graduate or law degrees and three attended Ivy League schools.
Former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy is arguably the poorest guy in the race, and he had a family income of more than $250,000 in 2008 and lives in a home valued at more than $1.2 million. Malloy's campaign literature touts his "working-class roots'' for a candidate who now lives in Stamford's upscale Shippan neighborhood across the street from Long Island Sound.
Two of the other candidates - Ned Lamont and Tom Foley - are multi-millionaires from Greenwich who are pouring millions of their own money into their campaigns.
Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele of Stamford is the longtime owner of a computer services company with about 100 employees, and he also earns six figures as the lieutenant governor. Republican Oz Griebel of Simsbury is a Dartmouth College graduate who has served in high-level positions as a CEO for more than 15 years.
Only one of the five - Fedele - has held statewide elective office, and two of the five - Foley and Griebel - have never been elected to any public office. That status has become a calling card as the candidates run against Hartford, saying they will change things if elected in November.
After winning the Republican Party's endorsement at last week's convention, Foley immediately cited his status in his speech to the delegates.
"Today, you have done something special and bold,'' Foley told them. "You have endorsed a candidate for the highest office in the state who has never run for or served in elected office. You have responded to the mood of the electorate for a change in direction and for new leaders who can take us there.''