While there's no doubt that Republicans across the country found many Democrats to be easy picking in a blowout election, that's not what happened in Connecticut.
In fact, it appears this morning that Connecticut Democrats may be in better shape today than they were before the election.
The Democrats retained all five congressional seats, turned aside Linda McMahon and her $50 million to hang on to a U.S. Senate seat and may well have captured the governorship for the first time in a quarter century.
So Colapietro's loss wasn't just the result of a shifting tide.
It was more personal than that.
Voters in the 31st District installed a GOP newcomer, Jason Welch, at least in part because they wanted a new state senator, not so much that they wanted change generally.
Colapietro, who was supremely classy in his defeat last night, said it was time for him to go out to pasture.
The truth is that Colapietro was ready to call it quits after 18 years in the Senate. He'd done much of what he sought to do -- the 'no call' list, subcontractor reform, holding off Sunday liquor sales and more.
He didn't have a burning desire to go back and finish anything in particular. He seemed, to be truthful, kind of tired of it all.
From the Democrats' perspective, it probably would have been best if Colapietro had simply stepped down, opening the door for a fresh face to claim his party's line.
But he wasn't quite ready for that.
Neither, though, was he ready for the rigors of a campaign.
He didn't bother to get his public financing in order until the last possible date. He didn't do much campaigning at all until the last few weeks, when the state Democrats stepped in to lend a hand.
Meanwhile, Welch was out there day after day, week after week, month after month, showing his face, telling voters about his more conservative vision for Connecticut, and sounding thoughtful, decent and solid.
In the sole debate, where the candidates had the questions in advance, Colapietro sounded confused and halting. Welch rolled over him. It was hard for most of us watching to imagine that Colapietro was the legislative veteran.
I've known Colapietro for a long time now -- 16 years -- and I've come to like the man. Politics aside, he's genuine. He says what he thinks and he doesn't really care what the consequences are.
When I first got to know him, he complained endlessly about the paper, about the vicious editorials that an anti-union former publisher used to write. He saw a conspiracy against him at the Press in every story.
But over time, he recognized that whatever had been the case, the paper no longer had it in for him. It just reported the news, which sometimes made him mad and sometimes happy.
Colapietro was always good ink.
I've read with horror the terrible things people write on this blog and elsewhere about Colapietro when they can bat out anonymous nonsense. Much of it is so cruel and beside the point that I can't figure out how come the words get spewed out.
I know some of that stung the senator, however much he claimed to have thick skin.
I really don't have any doubt that Colapietro and his wife Susan are going to have some good years ahead. The legislature is hard on anyone -- and the next couple of years are going to be especially difficult.
Welch thanked Colapietro last night for his 18 years of public service. That, too, was classy.
The new Republican senator has found Bristol a welcoming home. Let's hope he serves the city as well as he ran his upbeat, positive campaign.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
