Its been said for some time now that the Democrats are quiet, not feeling the same anger or fear as the Tea Party advocates or the Republicans. They’re either complacent, content with their current legislators or have chosen to sit out this election cycle.Here in Fairfield, we wanted to change that. Our Democratic Town Committee decided to hold a party/rally at our headquarters last night. For weeks in advance, we printed and distributed invitations by the score and urged the district leaders and their membership to spread the word to friends and neighbors. We wanted this to be an impediment free evening so charged nothing, leaving a tip jar at the door, and made certain there’d be things for the kids so entire families could come.We cleaned up the HQ, hung new banners, posted color-coded district maps and had blow-ups of sample ballots so people could refresh themselves as to who is running from both sides of the aisle.The food and drink were laid out in abundance, our face painters were ready in a corner, and the leadership held its collective breath.And the people came. Our HQ filled with more and more people – former DTC members, people we had never seen before also walked in. People from other towns heard about this and came to see for themselves. Within half an hour the place was packed and humming.Around 8, I shouted for silence and turned the night over to our DTC chair, Devon Pfeifer. She, in turn, introduced the candidates, who turned out in force. We had Cynthia Blumenthal, wife of Attorney General Dick Blumenthal, Congressman Jim Himes, State Treasurer Denise Napier, candidates for Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, AG candidate George Jepsen, gubernatorial candidate Dan Malloy and our local candidates (Kim Fawcett, Tom Drew, Michael Murren, and Pam Jones).We delivered the candidates, who mingled with the crowd, impressing those who attended. We also impressed the candidates with the turnout. Several noted we could well be a swing town, vital for the state elections and if true, we’ll be seeing more of them. All in all, this was a success beyond my hopes.Now, will any come back to volunteer, or want to join the DTC, or be moved to get out and vote? I guess time will tell.
It was great event and it did exceed everyone’s expectations. It was tremendous. Thanks for managing the refreshment’s table.
As a group, Democrats may not appear to be as angry or scared as the others, but some of us are just being quiet about it.I live in one of the most conservative-Republican districts in a Democrat-majority state. If the campaign signs are any indication, my district is about to send a homophobe and anti-semite to the legislature for the third time.That one candidate aside, I’m willing to give other Republicans the benefit of the doubt. I don’t have a problem with our GOP County Executive and I haven’t heard anything awful about the other delegate candidates. The same goes for our State Senator.Until last week, when I got a robo-call from him in which he managed to get both “tax-and-spend Democrats” and “their liberal agenda” into a 15-second message. I’m not sure exactly why I got this call, since I’ve tended to only get them from candidates that match my own affiliation, but get it I did.And now I have a reason not to vote for him.