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Republican candidate, Chris Meek, right, talks with Woodbury resident Chris Ford. Steve Obstinik won the Fourth Congressional District nomination at the Connecticut Convention Center, Friday, May 18, 2012. Photo: Johnathon Henninger / Connecticut Post Freelance

The Goldman Sachs reunion in the 4th Congressional District race is off.

Stamford Republican Chris Meek, who finished a distant second to Steve Obsitnik for the GOP’s endorsement in the 4th CD but captured enough votes to force a primary, is abandoning his bid to challenge fellow Goldman alum Jim Himes in the November election.

In an interview with Hearst Connecticut Newspapers this morning, Meek revealed that he will NOT carry on with an Aug. 14 primary against Obsitnik.

“It’s best that I step out right now,” said Meek, 41, who “retired” from a career at Goldman to run for Congress.

Meek referenced the protracted and tempestuous GOP nominating race for president, expressing a reluctance to go down that path.

“As I take a step back and sort of look at the national landscape, we’re polarized too much right now,” Meek said. “I don’t want to be part of that process. I’ve always been someone who has focused on finding solutions, not being part of the problem.”

Meek grabbed 27 percent of the vote a week ago today at the state GOP convention in Hartford, well above the 15 percent needed to force a primary.

Obsitnik, a wireless consulting executive from Westport, won 73 percent of the vote in the 17-town district. 

“If it was 60/40, I would have maybe pursued it,” Meek said. ” I was very proud to have my hometown behind me as a delegation.”

Meek’s decision to bow out of the race clears the decks for Obsitnik to focus his resources, i.e. money, and energy on Himes, who is seeking a third term.

“I will be working with Steve and his team to help get his message out there,” Meek said.

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Then-World Wrestling Federation star Bradshaw gets a laugh from then-Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz during a May 2001 rally at Hartford Public High School promoting WWF's "SmackDown Your Vote" campaign and National High School Voter Registration Month.

Linda McMahon has her very own axis of evil — the two Chrises, as in Shays and Murphy, and now, Susan Bysiewicz.

The Republican Senate primary favorite, McMahon is bristling at comments made today in a WNPR debate by Bysiewicz, who is primarying fellow Democrat Chris Murphy after finishing second to him at the state party convention.

Bysiewicz, a la Chris Shays, trashed the WWE,  the McMahon family business formerly known as World Wrestling Entertainment.

“I’ll be darned if I let someone who sells sex and violence and pornography for a living be our next United States senator,” Bysiewicz said. “We have to send the right woman to Washington.”

McMahon’s campaign was quick to accuse Bysiewicz of having amnesia, reminding that when she was secretary of the state, she had no problem participating in the WWE’s voter drive, known as SmackDown Your Vote.

Team Linda even circulated a photograph of Bysiewicz yucking it up with then-World Wrestling Federation star Bradshaw at Hartford High School in May 2001.  The photo is part of a press release that is still posted on the website of the secretary of the state.

The McMahon camp also pointed out that Bysiewicz even wrote a letter on behalf of McMahon when she was being considered for a seat on the state Board of Education, for which she was nominated by then- Gov. M. Jodi Rell and then confirmed by the Legislature.

Here’s a copy of that letter:

A letter written in support of Linda McMahon's appointment to the State Board of Education by then-Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz.

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As we reported May 15, regular guy Matt Oakes has formally abandoned his underdog race for U.S. Senate to instead back the Democratic Party’s endorsed candidate, U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy.

Oakes had mentioned to me the two would be filming a humorous web ad, and here it is below.

Oakes hasn’t always been so complimentary of Murphy. Check out Face the State host Dennis House’s blog.

Love or hate either of them, you’ve got to admit the ad’s creative, particularly the reference to Oakes’ response to a question during one debate about what candidates were reading.

While others, Murphy included, talked about one intellectual book or another, Oakes honestly (and bravely) responded a Star Trek novel.

Perhaps this is the start of another beautiful Kirk/Spock friendship…

Spock’s death in Star Trek II

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When state Senator-turned-felon-turned-state Senate candidate Ernest Newton won the Bridgeport Democratic Party’s endorsement this week, political observers around Connecticut began paying attention to that race.

Newton is challenging incumbent Sen. Ed Gomes, who succeeded Newton when he resigned from office in 2005 while under investigation for federal corruption charges.

State Rep. Andres Ayala also wants the seat, and he and Gomes have pledged to face Newton in a Democratic primary in August.

Potentially adding more drama to the race is a lingering threat by the local and state NAACPs to file a lawsuit over a redistricting plan the civil rights groups argue was crafted by white legislative leaders at the Capitol in Hartford at the expense of minority voters in Gomes’ district.

I wrote “potentially” because – based on the NAACPs’ own statements – the organizations may have already run out of time to block the redistricting.

The initial goal when the action was announced in mid-April was to file the lawsuit by May 1. Attorneys advising the NAACPs warned that the further into election season they sought to stop the redistricting, the less inclined a court would be to muck around with the process.

When May 1 came and went, state NAACP head Scot X. Esdaile told me the new goal was to move forward prior to Monday’s nominating meeting for Gomes’ seat, which resulted in the controversial endorsement of Newton.

Carolyn Vermont, president of the Bridgeport NAACP, a few minutes ago told me a telephone conference has been scheduled for tonight to discuss the lawsuit and she will have more information tomorrow.

“Right now the intent is still to move forward. Basically we wanted to make sure we just have all the documentation in place,” Vermont said.

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You know you want to read this story to find out why ex-state Senator-turned-felon-turned-state Senate candidate Ernest Newton of Bridgeport said, “The governor needs to get re-elected, and he’s going to need my help to do it.”

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Myself and a few other staffers at Hearst newspapers today met with ex-legislator-turned-felon-turned-state Senate candidate Ernest Newton II to talk further about his winning the endorsement of the Bridgeport Democratic Party.

We’ve reported Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch tried to convince Newton not to run. And this afternoon I spoke with several other folks who agreed Newton’s return to the state Senate would only hurt Bridgeport’s chances of turning around a reputation for producing corrupt politicians.

Newton’s response to critics? Listen to Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy.

At least twice during our conversation Newton referred to comments the governor made to reporters at the Capitol today when asked to weigh in on Newton’s candidacy.

“The governor said today it’s not my choice to tell people not to run, it’s the people’s choice,” Newton told us.

Read Malloy’s actual comments as reported by the Hartford Courant’s Chris Keating.

As for Newton’s views about Finch’s advice?

“Bill Finch is the mayor, but he ain’t my father,” Newton said.

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In this Sunday, April 22, 2012, photo provided by CBS News Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, speak on CBS's "Face the Nation" in Washington. Lieberman spoke about the Secret Service scandal. (AP Photo/CBS News, Mary F. Calvert)

What a difference a few hanging chads makes?

When he was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000, they watched his back.

My, how the tables will be turned for the Secret Service’s brass and Connecticut’s senior Sen. Joe Lieberman.

Lieberman, who is chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, will preside over a Senate hearing Wednesday into the dalliances of Secret Service agents with Colombian prostitutes, a scandal that has cast a pall over the proud ranks of the protectors of the nation’s top office holders and politicians.

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan is scheduled to testify at the 10:30 a.m. hearing the Dirksen Senate Office Building, as well as Secret Service Acting Inspector General Charles Edwards.

The hearing is titled: “Secret Service on the Line: Restoring Trust and Confidence.”

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Ex-Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz’s campaign recently contacted supporters for donations.

Bysiewicz lost the Democratic Party’s endorsement for U.S. Senate to U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, but earned enough support at the May 12 convention to engage Murphy in a primary in August.

But you wouldn’t know Bysiewicz’s status from the email, which mentioned neither the primary nor Murphy. Instead the message focused on Republican Linda McMahon, whom the GOP endorsed Friday.

———-

Dear ——,

They’re becoming impossible to avoid.

Linda McMahon’s television ads, that is. It’s only May, and she’s already flooding the airwaves.

Just two years ago, McMahon funneled $50 million of her own money into her first failed bid for the United States Senate. Now the wrestling tycoon who spent decades peddling misogyny and violence to children is back for a second shot at the Senate.

And the Republican Party is lining up right behind her. On Friday, McMahon won the endorsement of the Connecticut Republican Party at their nominating convention. That means they will be doing everything in their power to make McMahon the next person to represent Connecticut in the United States Senate.

We can’t let that happen. Can you contribute $5, $10 or $15 today to help me get my message out to voters in Connecticut?

The most troubling thing about Linda McMahon’s television ads is that you could watch ten of them and still not realize how much of a threat she poses to progress.

What McMahon’s commercials don’t say is that she is committed to preserving the tax loophole that lets our country’s wealthiest pay a lower tax rate than most middle class families. And that she would have voted to pass the Blunt Amendment, allowing any employer to stop covering birth control under their health insurance plan.

Connecticut deserves better than Linda McMahon. Will you chip in $5, $10 or $15 today so that I can continue to compete against Linda McMahon’s millions?

After the nominating convention on Friday, Linda McMahon told reporters that in this election, our state is “going to send the first woman Senator to Washington in the history of Connecticut”.

She and I both agree on that fact. But I think we’re talking about different women.

Thank you for everything you are doing to support my campaign!