Earlier today, responding to a quote from Republican House candidate David Cappiello suggesting that Rudy Giuliani could put the state of Connecticut “in play,” I asked, “Could Connecticut really go from a Republican Senate candidate getting 9.6 percent of the vote in a three way race to turning red in a presidential race two years later?”

A few Connecticut readers have a bone to pick with my implied skepticism.

Sean writes in, “The 9.6 percent reference in the Senate race isn’t quite fair. To be sure Lieberman captured the Republican vote, mine included. We haven’t had a Democratic governor since 1990. Rudy is the only type of Republican that would get any traction in the Nutmeg State & could see him helping in Nancy Johnson’s old district.”

That district, the fifth, encompasses the northwest part of the state. Lots of commuters who witnessed Giuliani’s efforts as mayor, perhaps? Maybe some folks who left New York City during the Koch and Dinkins years? The party enrollment breaks down about 30 percent Democrat, about 25 percent Republican, and 45 percent unaffiliated. Johnson endorsed Giuliani last month.

Mike, a Campaign Spot reader who backs Fred, sees some potential for Giuliani in his home state:

I live up here in CT-3 (Rosa DeLauro). Quite lonely to be an R here. You asked: “Could Connecticut really go from a Republican Senate candidate getting 9.6 percent of the vote in a three way race to turning red in a presidential race two years later?” The answer is: not even if Jesus Christ descended and decided to take up the 2008 Republican mantle.However, we are just south of CT-5 (Murphy-D) and I spend an awful lot of time up there… A huge issue up there that you may not have heard about continues to be the home invasion in Cheshire which resulted in the brutal deaths of a local educator and her two daughters this summer at the hands of two male parolees. There has been a firestorm about the state’s parole system, with Democrats frustrating Republican attempts to tighten the rules up. To the extent that Giuliani is the nominee (with all of his law and order bona fides), CT-5 could well be quite positively affected for Rs.”

Quinnipiac’s latest poll in Connecticut has Giuliani down two percent to Hillary, but they had him beating her 48 percent to 42 percent back in May.