So why do you want to be governor?

Senate hopeful turned gubernatorial candidate Thomas Foley got off to a stumbling start last week.

Mr. Foley, most recently an ambassador to Ireland under the Bush administration, had already been running TV advertisements contending he was the guy to replace Democratic Sen. Christopher J. Dodd in the 2010 election. The Republican said in the advertisements that his big concern was that heavy Washington borrowing was mortgaging the future of all of our children and grandchildren. He even included cute baby photos to make his point.

Send me to Washington, Mr. Foley said, and he would stop that reckless spending.

But when incumbent and fellow Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced she was not running for re-election, Mr. Foley eyed a more attractive political goal. So now he wants to go to Hartford, not Washington, but what exactly he wants to do there was not clear at Thursday's announcement that he is switching to the governor's race.

Now one would think if a candidate is going to jump from one race to another, he might have some passionate reasons for doing so and be prepared to make that case. Mr. Foley didn't. When reporters tried to ask questions, the candidate replied: "This actually was not a news conference."

Not a news conference? Then don't invite the press.

Reporters did later pigeonhole the candidate for a few minutes in the hallway, but he declined to provide any of his opinions on state spending, deficits or health care, the most critical issues facing the state. If Mr. Foley wants to be governor shouldn't he have given some thought to such things?

He did say he is putting together a "policy team" to produce "policy recommendations." Not exactly Churchillian.

Mr. Foley, who is 57, does have an interesting résumé. A successful businessman and Greenwich resident, he served in Iraq's "Green Zone" in 2003-04 to direct private-sector redevelopment under the Coalition Provisional Authority before getting the ambassador appointment in 2006. He said he may use his own riches, and forgo public financing, to bankroll his campaign.

And Mr. Foley may yet come up with some impressive ideas to get this troubled state turned in the right direction. But as for first impressions, his announcement was the pits.