Conservative Democrat to succeed Kennelly?

Conservative Democrat To Succeed Kennelly?

Newington, Conn. (December 26

A first-rate Republican nominee for Congress in Connecticut's 1st District (Greater Hartford) has historically been like the son of deranged hosts George and Martha in Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, who supposedly is away at school, but, in the end, turns out not to exist.

Although the 1st District has not elected a Republican House member since 1956, area GOP sachems always talk about coming up with a heavyweight contender-especially when the seat is open. But usually the chatter amounts to little, and with a few rare exceptions, Democratic nominees coast to easy November wins in the 20-town district.

"Sure, I looked at the race [for Congress] after [nine-term Democratic Rep.] Barbara Kennelly announced she was running for governor in '98," said Kevin Rennie, who made headlines in 1994 by becoming the first Republican to win the East Hartford-South Windsor state senate district in three decades, "but I just know that political action committees and Republican donors would not have the 1st District high on their radar screens." (Rennie, whom HUMAN EVENTS named as one of its "Ten Young Conservative Leaders for the 1990s" in February 1991, decided instead to run for state attorney general next year.)

Last week, there was budding talk that moderate-to-conservative State Rep. Dominic Mazzoccoli might carry the GOP standard for the open House seat. But, as the local press recalled that the Republican who opposed Kennelly in '96 raised only $60,000, former Newington Mayor Mazzoccoli quickly signaled that he would not even consider the race unless his party chieftains followed the Jerry Maguire admonition: "Show me the money!"

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Jan 16, 1998
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