Blumenthal run a repeat of Kennelly?

Winning elections isn't always the best preparation for becoming a governor or senator, especially if your victories have been too easy.

Remember Barbara Kennelly? A member of Congress for 16 years from Connecticut's safest Democratic district and secretary of the state before that, Kennelly waited patiently for more than 20 years to run for governor, only to suffer a career-ending defeat. Democrats are hoping they don't have another Kennelly in Dick Blumenthal, who has been elected and reelected attorney general since 1990 without ever having to fight for the job.

When Kennelly gave up her 1st District seat in 1998 to run against first-term Gov. John Rowland, she was the highest ranking woman in the House, a member of the important Ways and Means Committee and on a course to be the first woman speaker.

But Kennelly had much stronger opposition than Blumenthal faces with Linda McMahon and all her millions. Rowland was a popular incumbent, seeking a second term after lowering taxes, freezing the state work force, transforming a deficit into a surplus and transforming himself into a moderate Republican, the kind Connecticut liked to elect. Rowland was well financed, the country was happy and prosperous and everyone liked their incumbents.

Kennelly had to raise money while Rowland ran commercials. "She wasn't ready for prime time," University of Connecticut political economist William McEachern told the New York Times. "She was trying to run in good times with no memorable issue." And, the Times reported, "even Democratic audiences found Mrs. Kennelly to be an uninspiring and confusing speaker."

By late October, even the Times, with an editorial page largely sympathetic to Democrats like Kennelly, had given up on her. "Mrs. Kennelly seems hard-pressed to describe her specific plans for making Connecticut better," the Times editorialized just before Election Day. "She has not earned the right to be governor. Our endorsement goes to Mr. Rowland."

He won by 28 points and even carried Kennelly's 1st District, which she had won with more than 74 percent of the vote two years earlier.

Although it's early in this campaign, Blumenthal seems as hard-pressed as Kennelly was to articulate his specific views. He's trying to become a Democratic senator by running as neither a Democrat, nor a Republican.

Check out the issues section of richardblumenthal.com and one will discover he believes "education is the single most important factor in determining individual achievement" and that's not all. He will "continue to stand with the courageous men and women who have served and sacrificed for our country and their families" and "do more to ensure that our seniors have the resources they need to live full and productive lives."

There are some specific recommendations to support or extend government programs aimed at job creation, but in the main, his issues page is cliché heaven.

He campaigns on past successes, reminding voters of his crusades against tobacco, high electric bills, drug companies and other battles against special interests. Without past successes to boast about, McMahon's commercials and mailings, financed by her formidable personal treasury, define him, mainly as one who has lied about his military service and campaign financing.

"People just think Washington isn't working for them," Blumenthal told members of the Connecticut AFL-CIO to tepid applause earlier this month. "It's preoccupied with the special interests."

This denunciation of Washington comes from a candidate for the U.S. Senate whose party controls the White House and both houses of Congress, a candidate who sounds like someone too firmly in the thrall of his political consultants.

Dick Ahles is a retired journalist from Simsbury.