FIC Blog

A number of you have e-mailed this post in the CLP thread to me:

Given how the Democrats did, nationally and locally, in 2006 shouldn’t LMAF’s candidates have done more than “a bit” better? Wolfgang overreached by calling FIC’s issues a “major” factor, but here and there their stuff did seem to play a “hold the line” role against the losses the Right was destined to suffer this year. Particularly in place like the 16th district where they published that op-ed against Zoni. FIC’s trumpeting of its Caligiuri connection has been little noticed outside of their own blog.

An FIC-endorsed candidate beating an LMF-endorsed candidate in the only open seat for state senate this year is significant, as Brian has noted in this space. And the candidates’ positions on same-sex “marriage” were more openly debated in this race than in most.

The “here and there” factor may even have played a minor role in some races where we did not endorse. This, for instance, appeared in the Courant the morning of the election:

A typical, 15½-hour campaign day, DeStefano said, involves leaving his home at 6:30 a.m. and heading to city hall, where he has been New Haven’s mayor for the past 13 years. He then walks to nearby St. Mary’s Church, where he goes every day as a practicing Catholic. He then heads out on the campaign trail and returns home at an average of 10 p.m., sometimes later.
DeStefano’s religion came up recently on a radio call-in show when a female caller questioned his commitment to being a Catholic at a time when he supports gay marriage.
“I go to church every day,” DeStefano responded to the caller. “Whether or not I’m a Catholic is between God and me, not you and me.”