Joe Visconti, the rockin' rebel of the Republican Party, was tapped today as the GOP's 1st District congressional candidate at a convention in West Hartford.
Visconti will take on U.S. Rep. John Larson, an East Hartford Democrat who has routinely thrashed everyone who's challenged him since he won the job in 1998.
Here are some pictures that capture the excitement of the convention
And here's an account of the event from The Everyday Republican blog, a pretty good spot for keeping up with GOP news.
The brainflation blog has video of the convention, so even John Larson can see what he's in for.
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
19 comments:
Thanks, Steve, for paying attention to Joe. I know it would be easy to ignore him.
Excitment, are you kidding? It looks depressing to me. All the luck in the world won't help this candidate.
I'm sure that Steve's use of the word "excitement" was dripping with sarcasm.
Good luck to him. He's in for quite a fight, with Larson being so entrenched at this point. Hopefully the party can get behind him with enough support to, at the very least, make this a competitive race.
Give the guy credit for his courage in running against an entrenched incumbent. How long is enough for one person to be in congress? 20, 30 years, life? We need choice on the ballot and Joe is giving us that, way to go Joe! Now lets discuss the economy, immigration, and the federal deficit. So far both parties are failing in my opinion.
Oh I'll vote for him alright. But this is obviously just an excercise for the party bureaucracy. They're just going through the motions. This campaign was over the day it began.
Scott MacLean, 26% of the vote 2006)
John Halstead, 27% (2004)
Phil Steele, 33% (2002)
Bob Backlund, 28% (2000)
Kevin O'Connor, 41% (1998)
Look at that guy in the orange shirt. What's his problem? Get him out of there!
I forgot O'Connor ran - I guess being Associate Attorney General isn't a bad consolation prize.
The guy in the orange shirt is Gary Shaffrick.
I guess to receive any support in the First District, one needs the seal of approval from party hacks in Bristol.
Phil Steele was more credible than this character that Art Mocabee, Chris Healy are pushing.
Does Healy have a clue as to what Mocabee and Schaffrick are all about?
Or is he just throwing Visconti and them to the wolves?
May 11, 2008 4:52 PM:
I agree about Phile Steele. But as far as the "Bristol Party hacks" are concerned, I find it hard to believe they carry much clout with anyone. Most people don't have any interest in captain-ing a doomed ship, that's why Healey got these stooges to do it.
It's unclear from the bio, but does he have a bachelor's degree, or just the associate's degree? It's not such a big deal on a town council if someone didn't go to college, but I think once one gets to the state or national level of politics, they should at least have a bachelor's degree.
Good that Schaffrick and Mocabee are working for Visconti: maybe that will keep them out of Bristol politics.
It's hard not to laugh at this campaign.
Hey ...... Somebody has to try to unseat the Unions' control on the taxpayers' pocketbook .
I say anyone "NOT" owned by the Unions gets my vote from now on .
btw ..... I am a long time democrat that NEVER misses a chance to vote but the democrats we've put in office are distroying this State and if the only way for them to get the message is to vote against them , then that's what i'll have to do .
I don't believe that Mr. Visconti or any candidate should be required to have a BS or a BA in order to serve in Congress. Bill Gates never finished college. Art Ward has no degree, nor does Nicastro, Couture, or Leone. Colapietro has no college at all. There is no law that says a Congressman must have a bachelor's degree. I'll bet there are some that do not. Visconti has an Assoicates has been an elected councilman in a large town and has numerous years of business experience. CSeguin you are a phoney. What do you believe the requirement for State Senator should be then in regards to education?
poster 10:39 I believe you make Colin's argument quite succinctly excepting of course Bill Gates
@ 10:39 pm
I'm not sure what makes me a "phoney." I'm just sharing my viewpoint, and you're more than welcome to disagree.
If you'll notice, I stated in my post that I don't think a degree is necessary for city council or any of the city positions (council, mayor, zoning, park and rec., etc.). In those cases, things like community involvement are more important.
However, as to the state legislature or Congress, I think a college or graduate degree is a positive. Writing legislation is a difficult intellectual task; I think that a college degree or graduate degree is something that can help prepare a person for that task.
Now, I understand that most people from previous generations (before Generation X) don't have bachelors or associates degrees, and that less people went to college during that time period, because of military service, financial constraints, etc. It's much more understandable why someone from previous generations would not have a degree.
I also don't think there should be any sort of law passed regarding educational requirements. It's up to the voters what types of qualifications they want to see in their candidate. We don't need legislation regarding qualifications for a state senator or representative.
My only point is, as a voter, education is a factor I use in evaluating a candidate for a state or national position. It's not the only thing I look at, and I'll look at other factors in addition to education to make my decision. You are certainly free to use your own criteria, and to ignore a candidate's educational background.
Also...I know people always bring up Bill Gates as an example of success without a college education. It should also be noted that he was accepted to Harvard, and was doing well before he dropped out, so it's not as if college was an unreachable option for him.
If education is the key qualification, shouldn't George W. Bush's MBA from Harvard make him much more of an expert on the economy than Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham, Al-gore and BH Obama who are lawyers?
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