Dennis James King of Waterbury, chairman of the state’s MLK Jr. Holiday Commission, looked at U.S. Sen. Dick Blumenthal during the commemoration today in the Capitol. King said he had hoped one of his own children would become the state’s first black Senator. “Oops, Dick Blumenthal took that.” said King noting that Blumenthal had attended every MLK holiday program. King recalled telling someone a couple nights earlier “that if President Clinton can be the first black president, then based on the fact that (Blumenthal’s) been here for 20-plus years, all 25 years at this ceremony and has been supportive of this nation and this state…” Blumenthal can be the Senate equivalent. Blumenthal then rose to speak, first giving King a big hug.
Reporters with certain memories couldn’t help remembering the times that Blumenthal, during the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women’s annual “Making Women Visible Day,” would don a bright-red blazer and declare in their news confrence, among hundreds of similarly clad women, that on that day, he was also a female.