Strong showing in municipal elections has state GOP looking ahead

Hartford - The morning after Republican candidates rumbled to victory in municipal elections around the state, the party's chairman was engaging in some end-zone celebration.

Republicans are "now the majority party of Main Street, Connecticut," Chris Healy declared Wednesday morning in a conference call with reporters from around the state to report the previous day's haul.

Unfortunately for Healy, at least for now, Main Street, Connecticut, isn't where the laws get made.

Republican candidates statewide turned in strong showings in local races, holding 18 top spots in local government where Republicans were the incumbents, according to party officials, and taking 17 of those positions in towns where they had been held by Democrats.

But Healy concedes that his party still has plenty of work to do to translate those local victories into a strong showing next year in the race for control of the General Assembly, where dwindling Republican caucuses have been virtually marginalized in the battles over state policy and budgeting.

Tuesday was "a good night," the chairman said. "One to build on, not one to get too cocky about."

It was a much better night than Republicans have had in recent legislative election cycles, which have seen the minority party's share of seats plunge in the state House of Representatives to 37 of the chamber's 151-seat total.

In the Senate, Republicans hold just 12 of the 36 seats; the totals in both chambers give Democratic leaders potentially veto-proof majorities, if their members vote as a bloc, though that feat has proved harder to pull off than some in the majority had hoped.

Federal races have followed a similar path: The election of Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, in 2008 left Connecticut with a Congressional delegation of seven Democrats (though Sen. Joe Lieberman calls himself an independent and frequently breaks ranks to side with Republicans).

A lone exception to Connecticut's Democratic tilt remains the governor's office - the party hasn't won a gubernatorial contest since Gov. William A. O'Neill won re-election in 1986.

In the aftermath of Tuesday's municipal vote, Healy and other Republicans are hoping that discontent with national policies and some Democrats in Washington will drive increased erosion of the majority party's grip on the legislature.

"I think people feel overtaxed," Healy said, and "frightened" by the condition of the economy and the health care reform moving through Congress.

"I think the general mood gives those who are anxious and maybe angry more intensity," he said, adding that the positive example of turning Democratic incumbents out of office could galvanize Republicans heading into next year's legislative races. "Overall it helps when the people running campaigns at the local level get the confidence that they can win."

Democratic leaders aren't buying it.

"I think the exuberance of last year and the recession has dampered, in some ways, people's feelings about government," said House Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden. "They're looking for a quick fix. Things are getting better, we averted disaster, but things are slow recovering. So I think that had an effect on turnout. But also when there's a party of power, they can motivate their people to turn out.

"As things get better, Democrats have to capitalize on what they've done to make things better. Republicans have put us into this recession with Wall Street, and the Democrats are pulling us out. We haven't done enough to say, 'Hey, we're coming out of this recovery, and let's look at the silver lining.' "

t.mann@theday.com