You can see some of 2012 in 2011

So, here we are, in 2012 already.

For better or worse, 2011, of course, helped set up 2012. And around these parts of Connecticut, I would say the setup for 2012 was largely for the better, a sowing of good things to come.

Look at the political landscape.

Southeastern Connecticut voters in the region selected their first regional probate judge in 2011. That was a healthy election with a lot of good candidates from both parties and, best of all, it was a promising baby step toward regionalization.

Municipal voters in November rightly confirmed the status quo in some cases, like the re-election of longtime First Selectman Nicholas Mullane in North Stonington. And, in some other cases, they successfully turned over the bad apple cart, as with the election of John Rodolico as the new mayor in Ledyard.

In New London's historic election of its first new full-time mayor in a generation, voters also wisely chose the new over the old, in landslide proportions.

New London Mayor Daryl Finizio has a mandate and the power to harvest all the city's promising opportunities and produce some substantial change, hopefully starting in 2012.

Finizio stumbled a bit out of the gate, first by alienating those who had voted to sell a part of Riverside Park to the Coast Guard. He also alienated the Coast Guard by suggesting he might not follow the results of the park referendum, which ended up, after a recount, having the city keep the park anyway.

The unnecessary slight to the Coast Guard was especially unfortunate, given the persistent hopes that the Coast Guard might soon try to establish a museum in downtown New London.

The new mayor's other stumble was a directive, later rescinded, to have the police not enforce marijuana laws on private property, an especially odd initiative given that the legislature has already decriminalized pot. Could New London also be made a haven for jaywalkers and speeders?

"Dimebag Daryl" is how the mayor was labeled in comments on one of the news stories about the failed pot directive, which was eventually killed by prosecutors, who pointed out the obvious: You have to enforce all the laws, whether you like them or not.

But all that was 2011. I thought the mayor looked like he was off to a good start for the imminent beginning of 2012, when he was escorting Sen. Richard Blumenthal around town last week.

Leveraging his leadership of the city's Democratic party with the state's Democratic senator and governor is what many people envisioned when they supported a change of government to a powerful city mayor.

Nationally, 2011 delivered a debt crisis and set up the dynamics of the 2012 election cycle, a debate over raising taxes versus cutting entitlements like Medicare and Social Security.

Here in Connecticut, I can't wait to see how Linda McMahon reprises her last campaign for a Senate seat. Will she again suggest no new taxes for gazillionaires like herself and refuse to say whether she would cut Social Security?

I might suggest that the developments of the fiscal crisis of 2011 make McMahon's 2012 Senate race in Connecticut dead on arrival.

Last year brought one especially troubling development for the economy of southeastern Connecticut: The decision by Massachusetts to develop casino gambling. One silver lining to that cloud could come in 2012, though, if the Mohegans succeed in obtaining a gaming license for western Massachusetts.

Another troubling business development here in 2011 was Pfizer's decision to sell or lease part of its Groton research campus. It is hard to see a silver lining to this one, but not many envisioned that Pfizer leaving New London would turn out as well as it has, with Electric Boat filling the breach.

Electric Boat, of course, could also become a victim of the debt crisis of 2011, with big potential defense cuts in the offing.

But I think a likely re-election of President Obama will be very good for EB in 2012, given the longtime political support for Obama by the principal shareholders of General Dynamics.

You need to look no further than the substantial political giving to the president by Electric Boat executives to see how important they consider an Obama re-election.

The most unpredictable thing around here in 2011 was certainly the weather, which included lots of snow, a hurricane and a strange October snowstorm that defied what turned out to be a pleasant and mild fall overall.

So what can we foresee from 2011 for the weather of 2012?

Who knows.

But let's hope this warm and delightful start to the year continues as long as possible into the long winter months ahead.

This is the opinion of David Collins