While Richard Blumenthal and Susan Bysiewicz have been grabbing all the headlines this week, the candidates for governor have been scrambling behind the scenes to gather delegates for this weekend's nominating convention.
The conventions could be raucous, wild affairs with horse-trading, vote-switching, and arm-twisting as undecided delegates make their decisions and others change their minds.
Many insiders believe that former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy has a solid chance of winning the Democratic convention, and his campaign manager is already predicting that accomplishment. But Greenwich cable television entrepreneur Ned Lamont, who is the party's front runner in the polls, is collecting high-profile endorsements from legislators that include House Speaker Christopher Donovan of Meriden.
The convention scene Saturday will likely involve "a lot of dirt and smoke and yelling and screaming,'' said former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor. "A convention is like a controlled riot.''
Foley is battling against Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele and a large field of Republican candidates who cannot agree on who is ahead and by how much. While the vote counts are constantly fluctuating, Fedele said this week that he is hoping for a first-ballot victory.
"We're not taking anything for granted,'' Fedele said. "If you're going to bet on a horse, that's the horse I would do it on.''
But Foley rejected Fedele's synopsis and a statement by Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton that he had more than 15 percent of the delegates before dropping out to run as a lieutenant governor candidate on the team with Fedele.
"I don't agree that Mike and I are close,'' Foley said in an interview. "If the delegates voted right now, I think I would beat Mike by a significant margin.''
Foley, who has already poured $2 million of his own money into the campaign, says he expects the campaign will cost at least $8 million to $10 million. Besides using some of his own fortune, Foley is also raising money under the old rules - meaning he is receiving as much as $3,500 per individual and $7,000 for couples because he is not accepting public financing. Rather than running for elective office, Foley has gained his reputation in Republican circles as a major fundraiser for candidates that include President George W. Bush and his father, George H. W. Bush, Bob Dole, and Ronald Reagan.
Foley said the stakes are high for Fedele, whom many insiders believe can pull off the nomination.
"As a sitting lieutenant governor, he has to win,'' Foley said. "I don't have to win. I'm an outsider to the process. He's been around a long time. He's not the new guy on the block. Mike Fedele said six weeks ago that he would qualify [for public financing] before the convention. What happened to that? That's a real credibility problem Mike has going into Saturday.''
Chris Cooper, a spokesman for Fedele, responded, "It's not unusual that he would be trying to lower expectations now. Despite spending almost $3 million of his own personal money to buy the nomination, he's behind in delegates. Today's article about his business practices, I think, will prove to be very damaging to delegates who don't want him to do to Connecticut what he did to his business - drive them into bankruptcy.''
Cooper was referring to a detailed article by veteran investigative reporter Jon Lender that was posted on the Hartford Courant's Web site on Thursday regarding Foley's business dealings with a company that eventually filed for bankruptcy protection.
With endorsements by former U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, former Congressional candidate Ed Munster, and House GOP leader Larry Cafero, Fedele has about 25 high-profile endorsements of elected officials and party leaders over the past two weeks. Overall, Fedele has 42 super delegates, who are traditionally highly influential in persuading other delegates to join their cause.
"His statement is designed to leverage the only thing he has, which is a checkbook,'' Cooper said of Foley.