Electric Boat, it seems, is not only good at building a fine submarine. They know how to assemble a pretty efficient political money machine, too.

For all the years that Republican Rob Simmons of Stonington held the Second District Congressional seat, Electric Boat executives were good Republican donors, giving generously to their congressman.

When Joe Courtney was the Democrat trying to unseat Simmons, managers at Electric Boat were not too eager to open their political kitty to the challenger.

But, lo and behold, now that Courtney is the incumbent, running a pretty easy re-election campaign, the EB executives have opened their wallets pretty wide to help him.

According to reports compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, Courtney is the clear favorite among executives at the shipyard. The list of Courtney donors looks like a management directory, dozens of upper and mid-level managers giving an average of about $500 each.

I could only find one donation to Sean Sullivan, the Republican challenger, from an EB employee.

It sure looks like the memo went out.

One of the biggest Courtney contributors from Electric Boat is Robert Hamilton, director of communications, who has given $1,400 since the spring of 2007.

John P. Padgett III of Old Lyme, vice president for business and development strategy at EB, is apparently especially strategic in his political giving. He plays both sides.

Padgett gave a total of $500 to Courtney. But he also gave a much more impressive $2,250 to Sullivan, apparently the only one at the shipyard to give to the challenger.

Since Padgett also gave to John McCain and the Republican National Committee, I suspect the Courtney donation was a nod to current corporate orthodoxy.

But spreading it around on both sides of a race is apparently not all that unusual around here.

Toni Hoover of Essex, senior vice president at Pfizer, also gave to both Second District candidates, $250 to Sullivan and $1,000 to Courtney.

Another both-sides giver at Pfizer is Kathleen Clancy, associate director of public affairs, who donated very evenhandedly: $250 to Courtney and $250 to Sullivan. If dollars were votes, the donations would cancel each other out.

While Electric Boat is squarely in the Courtney camp - and why shouldn't they be, since he has successfully brought home the money needed to pick up the pace of submarine construction - Pfizer executives here appear to lean a bit more toward the Republican in the race.

Connecticut employees of Pfizer donating to Sullivan slightly outnumber those giving to Courtney, and this balance suggests much less top-down organizing of political giving than at Electric Boat.

Employees of the region's two big casinos, in contrast, have given relatively little to either candidate in the Second District race, one indicator, I suppose, that there are not a lot of Indian gaming issues on the Congressional radar.

It wasn't that long ago that the Mashantucket Pequots, as Indian gaming spread around the country, were some of the nation's biggest political donors, pouring tens of thousands of dollars of soft money into the system. The Mohegans were right behind them.

I'm sure Joe Courtney is grateful for the change of heart at Electric Boat and the evolution of management thinking there toward a Courtney candidacy.

At the same time, with his $2.1 million in campaign donations in this race, compared with Sullivan's $377,000, as of the end of September, I'm not sure the Electric Boat giving means all that much.

When it comes to raising money, it's sure good to be the incumbent.

This Is The Opinion Of David Collins.

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