11/03/08 Democrats see chance to widen majority in state legislature

From: The Register Citizen

By The Associated Press

HARTFORD — Democratic House Speaker James Amann thinks the minority Republicans in the Connecticut legislature have a lot to worry about on Election Day.

"The tsunami is coming, they know it," he said. "It's going to be the biggest landslide since Watergate."Democrats already hold a veto-proof majority in the House of Representatives.

Given the popularity of presidential candidate Barack Obama in Connecticut and voter displeasure with the Bush administration, some hope to secure the same level of supremacy in the state Senat

... of the state Democrats, said he thinks Democrats can pick up more seats, even in Republican strongholds such as Greenwich. "Democrats are running some pretty strong races," he said. Republicans are trying to convince voters that such Democratic ...

...."For more than 30 years Democrats have controlled the Connecticut state House. Thirty years of a Democratic majority has gotten us higher taxes, jobs lost and a growing state deficit," reads the announcer.

"After 30 years, don't you think it's about time to change the state House?"Beth Rotman, executive director of Connecticut's Citizens Election Fund, said whether or not incumbents lose on Tuesday will not determine whether the new public campaign financing initiative is a success.

"Overall, we're going to judge success by whether we're able to make things more competitive and whether the program really incentivizes participation," she said.

Two public hearings have been scheduled for Nov. 19 and Dec. 3 to get feedback from the public and candidates on the first year of the public financing initiative.

"I think the point for the program is to make sure candidates have the opportunity to run clean, without being beholden to special interests," Rotman added, "and that candidates that want to run, who don't have access to large donors, are still able to run."

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