Recent developments in Connecticut’s fourth and fifth congressional districts confirm that congressmen Jim Himes and Chris Murphy are struggling to survive this election.
First, Murphy’s campaign has announced that it’s pulling its latest ad. The spot ties Murphy’s opponent, State Senator Sam Caligiuri, to convicted sex offender and former mayor of Waterbury, Phil Giordano. When Giordano was arrested in 2001, Caligiuri, then-president of the board of aldermen, became mayor. He later negotiated an agreement between Giordano and the city in which the disgraced pol kept his salary while awaiting trial in return for shedding his mayoral powers. Murphy’s ad — no longer available on YouTube — described Caligiuri as Giordano’s “number two.”
This morning, Tiffany Romero Grossman, spokeswoman for Caligiuri, says in a press release:
The Democrats attacked Sam the same way in 2006 during his first run for the State Senate. That attack was rejected then and it is being rejected now because it distorts what really happened. The real story here is that Murphy crossed the line and attacked Sam personally because he is desperate to avoid talking about his record of voting with Nancy Pelosi 98% of the time, including on spending trillions of dollars for disastrous legislation such as Cap and Trade, public option health care, and the failed stimulus package.
Second, Himes is hosting President Obama in Bridgeport on October 30, according to the blog Only in Bridgeport. Obama’s appearance comes after his fundraiser with senatorial candidate Dick Blumenthal in Stamford last month. Democrats see Bridgeport, the largest city in the state, as the key to Himes’s re-election.