Did Somers cost Foley the governorship?

Republican candidate for governor Tom Foley arrives by bus for a rally, Monday, Nov. 3, 2014, in Windsor Locks, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Republican candidate for governor Tom Foley arrives by bus for a rally, Monday, Nov. 3, 2014, in Windsor Locks, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

You’d never see John McCain driving the “Straight Talk Express.”

Or Mitt Romney taking the wheel of his campaign bus.

A political operative says that the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor asked to do just that, a request Heather Bond Somers’ campaign manager denies was ever made.

Duh, she doesn’t have commercial driver’s license.

Somers is being thrown under the proverbial bus, however.

The inability of Somers to deliver southeastern Connecticut and her hometown of Groton, where she was mayor from 2011 to 2013, to the top of the Republican ticket didn’t exactly ingratiate her with running mate Tom Foley, according to multiple people familiar with the dynamic of the partnership.

Somers started out the campaign as the running mate of Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, but abandoned the GOP gubernatorial hopeful shortly after the state party convention in May to run on her own and eventually won the Republican primary for lieutenant governor in August.

The people of the Hat City apparently have long memories, as Danbury, which had been in Foley’s win column in 2010, flipped to Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in Tuesday’s election.

“At the end of the day the perceived nasty tone of the race between the two men at the top of the ticket turned off unaffiliated voters statewide, allowing the election to become a battle of the bases which Malloy wasn’t going to lose because of the Democrat registration advantage,” Jonathan Conradi, Somers’ campaign manager, told Hearst Connecticut Media Friday. “Heather Somers campaigned tirelessly behind the scenes with base voters and played a large role in the higher than average GOP turnout this election. Heather has also proven herself a statewide force in the party having commanded a large geographic base in southeastern ct during her come from behind primary win.”

Foley declined to comment directly about whether Somers cost the ticket when reached Thursday night by Hearst Connecticut Media.

His campaign spokesman, Chris Cooper, took the high road.

“She worked very hard,” Cooper said. “She was an asset and was a very important part of the ticket. She was very good on the campaign trail and connected with voters.”

The respective nominees for governor of Connecticut for the most part don’t get to pick their running mates, who are paired with them on the ticket after separate primaries for lieutenant governor.

Neil Vigdor