Democrat Susan Bysiewicz jumped into the 2012 U.S. Senate race today, saying she wants to focus on job-creation and efforts to keep young people from leaving Connecticut.
"After careful consideration decided to file my papers today with the Secretary of the Senate,'' Bysiewicz said in a phone interview this morning. "I have spoken to constituents across the state and have been heartened by their encouragement."
Bysiewicz, 49, is the first to enter what surely will be a crowded and contentious campaign for the seat currently occupied by Sen. Joseph Lieberman. Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, has not yet revealed his intentions.
Lieberman, Bysiewicz said, has lost touch with the people of the state. She says he was travelling across the nation in the fall of 2008, campaigning with Republican presidential candidate John McCain coaching his running mate Sarah Palin for debates instead of tending to the needs of Connecticut residents coping with the economic crisis.
Lieberman isn't the only potential opponent for Bysiewicz. Republican Linda McMahon, who lost her Senate bid in 2010 to Richard Blumenthal, has left the door open for another run. U.S. Reps. Chris Murphy and Joe Courtney, both Democrats, have also expressed interest in running.
"My interest in running for Senate in 2012 is well known in the state, and I expect to announce my decision very soon. All I can say now is that this is going to be a pretty busy few weeks," Murphy said via email.
Republicans, for whom Bysiewicz has long been a favorite target, could scarcely contain their glee. They have always cast her as an ambitious climber and continued on that theme today.
"After being declared unqualified to serve as Attorney General by the State Supreme Court and a disastrous display of incompetence as Secretary of the State on Election Day 2010, private attorney Bysiewicz has decided the U.S. Senate will be the next stop on her political fantasy tour," state Republican chairman Chris Healy said in a sharply worded press release.
"In 2010. Susan Bysiewicz showed Connecticut voters it's all about Susan...Voters will...see this for what it is - another career politico in search of greater glory."