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Kathleen O’Rourke/Staff photo

By Bill Cummings

HARTFORD — Democratic State Rep. Denise Merrill, a House majority leader who has served in the Legislature for 17 years, won a close victory Saturday to capture the endorsement for secretary of state, beating challenger and State Sen. Jonathan Harris of West Hartford 966 to 826.

In accepting her nomination, Merrill, who is from Mansfield, thanked her supporters and vowed to take the fight to Republicans.

“What a great day to be a Democrat. I am so honored and willing and able and excited to accept your nomination as Connecticut’s next secretary of state,” Merrill said.

“You see what Republicans have done in other states and what our secretary of state has done,” Merrill said, referring to outgoing Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz.

Merrill’s victory came after challenger Gerry Garcia of New Haven dropped out of the race following the first ballot and threw his support to Harris. Merrill prevailed in the second ballot. Garcia said he plans to wage a primary. Harris also qualified to join the primary if he so chooses.

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Hartford businessman Oz Griebel did not secure the Republican Party’s gubernatorial nomination this afternoon but will mount a primary against the official candidate – Greenwich millionaire Tom Foley.

Speaking to reporters afterward about his chances, Griebel said he felt “really good about the momentum” but added “I’ve got to work my a– off.”

Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, who endorsed and nominated Griebel, was standing nearby and sought to clarify the candidate meant to say he had to work his butt off.

But maybe that’s what Connecticut needs during the ongoing budget crisis – a Governor who is willing to let loose with some colorful language once in a while.

Retiring Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell is known for her civil tone, and her successor is facing a $3 billion deficit. Coincidence?

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So you may wonder who exactly comes to these conventions. At least I did when I started trying to figure out how candidates got on the ballot. But the non-scientific answer is that the people who come here are the super motivated sorts. Sure, for some people it is there jobs to come to the GOP convention, shake hands, network, etc. But the vast majority of people here do something else for a living other than collecting votes. For many, the only skin in the game that they have is their core ambition to make the state better (and thus put forward the best candidate). But who makes up the demographics of those highly motivated group of people? Well from one kid’s perspective, they’re all old people.

Of course there are a plethora of folks my age here and active at the Republican convention, but for the most part they are all campaign side. My circumstance of being a 22 year old delegate is rare…in fact I have trouble finding ANY others. Luckily I have friends in a few campaigns back from my days interning in Washington D.C. for former Congressman Chris Shays, but now that the “sexy” races are over, most of the campaign staff has cleared out. Even then, talking to kids my age would inevitably bring up some talking point or another and make the conversation less friendly and more professional (i.e. annoying), but at least there was SOMETHING I could relate to beyond ideology.

But I must say, to the credit of all the old timers here, they are the ones who are staying. They are the ones sticking it out. It seems to me that they are the ones with the political stamina. And thus they are the ones who ultimately influence who is on the ballot. Now if I’m one of them at age 22, I’m kinda worried about what I might become when I’m the older gentleman. Whatever may happen, though, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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HARTFORD – A big-city push is brewing in the race for the Democratic endorsement for comptroller, the job now held by Nancy Wyman, who was nominated to run for lieutenant governor.

 Waterbury Mayor Michael Jarjura, a candidate for comptroller, said Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch and New Haven Mayor John DeStefano are helping him move delegates his way.

 “The big cities are saying we have to be represented on this ticket,” Jarjura said. “There will be a couple of ballots. We are doing pretty good.”

 When reminded that Dan Malloy, Stamford’s former mayor, just received the party’s endorsement in the race for governor, Jarjura said that Stamford doesn’t count as one of the “big cities.”

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HARTFORD — Democrats are moving to the second ballot for secretary of state following a first ballot that failed to deliver a majority for one of the three candidates for the office. Denise Merrill won comfortably, with 44 percent of the vote, over  Gerry Garcia and Johnathan Harris.

However, a candidate must receive over 50 percent, plus one, of the vote to be nominated.

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By Brian Lockhart

HARTFORD — Wealthy business executive Tom Foley pulled out a narrow win over Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele of Stamford in the contest for the Republican endorsement for governor. The pair will be joined by Hartford businessman Oz Griebel in a three-way primary in August.

Foley had won a plurality of delegates’ votes Saturday after the first round of balloting, and then a landslide of vote switches afterward put him above the 50 percent he needed for the official endorsement.

Foley won 710 votes to 427 for Fedele and 243 for Griebel.

The results mean that the GOP now faces primaries in both of this year’s marquee races, governor and U.S. Senate.

Foley, 58, started the NTC Group in 1985 to acquire under-performing businesses, and he’s fond of touting on the campaign trail how his investment company grew to employ more than 6,000 people. But his stewardship of a failing textile business has increasingly come under scrutiny.

President George W. Bush appointed Foley ambassador to Ireland from October 2006 until January of 2009. He was also asked to help with U.S. efforts to develop a private sector in war-torn Iraq in 2003.

Foley has attempted to position himself as an outsider willing to clean up Hartford, a businessman who will install sound and efficient practices in bringing the state’s fiscal health in order. But his critics have wondered if his inexperience with the nuts-and-bolts of government would prove to be a detriment, not an asset.

In pursuing the endorsement, Fedele sought to take advantage of his long experience dealing with party political operatives across the state.

Fedele, 55, began his public life as a member of Stamford’s board of representatives. He served in the General Assembly before becoming lieutenant governor in 2007.  He has sought to engage in business and economic development issues in that role, and he is the chairman and CEO of Pinnacle Group, a Stamford-based information technology company.

He has struggled at times to assert his own identity outside that of his boss, Gov. M. Jodi Rell. He’s tried to be a loyal No. 2, but he’s also signaled that he was dismayed Rell failed to take a harder line with Democratic legislative leaders during budget negotiations and insist on deeper spending cuts.

Griebel, a former bank executive, is president and CEO of the MetroHartford Alliance, a business and economic development group.

Former state legislator, congressman and university president Larry DiNardis also was on the ballot.

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Kathleen O’Rourke/Staff photo

Fairfield First Selectman Ken Flatto wants to manage the state’s money as comptroller. He was engaged in lots of last-minute Saturday electioneering in attempt to climb above the three other candidates and at least win the 15 percent needed to force a primary. For lunch, he waited in line at the snack bar, grabbed a burger and soda, then flashed a $20 bill, paying for Selectman Sherri Steeneck’s lunch too.