Republican Tom Foley and Democrat Dannel Malloy are out with new television commercials as they head into the final seven weeks before the November 2 election.
Foley focuses on Malloy's record as mayor, saying that taxes and spending increased during Malloy's 14-year tenure. While thousands of jobs were created in the early Malloy years, the city has lost 13,000 jobs since the peak employment year of 2000, according to state labor statistics. The unemployment rate increased by about 58 percent between 1995 and 2009 - when Malloy stepped down after not seeking re-election.
Malloy's 60-second commercial is an innovative approach in Connecticut politics as Malloy displays a stopwatch to say that he has only 60 seconds to tell the story of his tenure in Stamford. As the commercial progresses, Malloy mentions how many seconds he has left to tell his story.
After saying that he "helped small businesses grow'' and cut spending, Malloy ends the commercial by saying, "I'm out of time, so it's time we get to work.''