New Haven Independent

Connecticut’s top Democratic elected officials, from the attorney general and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro down to the City Hall crowd in New Haven, have for months played along, with winks and nods, with the fiction that home-state U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd’s longshot presidential quest has a remote chance of succeeding. None have been spotted, say, beating the bushes for Dodd in Iowa. But they’ve loyally claimed to be committed to Dodd for the alleged long haul.

Dodd is widely expected to receive no more than 1 or 2 percent in Thursday’s Iowa caucuses. The only betting game left is whether he’ll proceed to New Hampshire and the early Feburary primaries, or pack it in on Friday.

In town Tuesday to attend Mayor John DeStefano’s eighth-term inauguration, Bysiewicz was asked whom she plans to support the Democratic presidential nomination after Thursday.

“I like Hillary [Clinton]. I like Barack [Obama],” she said. “I haven’t made a decision about that. Any Democrat would be better than the Republicans.”

Attorney General Dick Blumenthal, who also attended the New Haven inauguration at Beecher School, declined to answer the question about his post-Thursday candidate of choice. New Haven State Sen. Martin Looney maintained the party line, as did State Comptroller Nancy Wyman (pictured): They’re sticking with Dodd, claiming he still has a shot.

“I’m not totally giving up yet,” Wyman said. Then she blamed the press for ignoring her candidate. The press’s “pushing for Obama and Hillary has taken away from looking at all” the candidates, including worthy potentials like Dodd and fellow Sen. Joe Biden.

If Dodd were to drop out of the race, Wyman said, she’d take a look at all the Democrats remaining. “I’m looking for someone who can bring everybody together,” she said. She predicted that other candidates besides Clinton and Obama would still have a chance in coming weeks. “Things are changing,” including the possibility of an independent bid by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Whom she wouldn’t support, she said.