New Haven Independent

DeLauro trounced Republican Boaz ItsHaky and Green Party candidate Ralph Ferrucci with around 80 percent of the vote, based on early returns.

“What could be better?” DeLauro said, arriving outside the Playwright bar in New Haven, where her victory party was already in full swing.

“This has been a campaign that I believe is extraordinary,” said DeLauro, referring not only to her own campaign but to the historic Obama/Biden presidential ticket.

“I don’t look on a victory as a reward for past service,” said DeLauro, “but as incentive to try harder.”

With the Democrats increasing their majority in the House with another 23 seats, DeLauro is expected to continue ascending through the ranks of leadership and influence. She’s the second highest-ranking female Democrat int he House; she currently chairs the Agriculture-FDA Appropriations Subcommittee.

DeLauro said Tuesday night that the economy is at the top of her agenda for her next term.

She noted Connecticut’s 6.5 percent unemployment rate. DeLauro went on to run down a list of other priorities, including health care, energy, and education.

In a speech before supporters, DeLauro said, “Now is the time for our leaders to play a more active role in creating jobs, investing in our communities, and promoting economic expansion. This is our shared responsibility — our nation meeting its obligation to the American people.”

Touching on foreign policy, DeLauro mentioned the need to “restore our moral authority in the world.” “We’ve got to stop spending 10 billion dollars in Iraq every month.”

Stepping into the Playwright, DeLauro moved from embrace to embrace as “Still The One” erupted over the sound system. DeLauro waded through her overjoyed supporters to the back of the bar, which decorated with huge red Rosa DeLauro banners and filled with cheering Democrats.

Taking the podium for her victory speech, DeLauro thanked her supporters, her staff, and her volunteers. She gave a shout out to her elderly mother (at right in photo), former Wooster Square Alderwoman Luisa DeLauro, who was led through the crowd to a seat of honor at the front of the room.

DeLauro tied her story to the historic candidacy and impending victory of Barack Obama. When one of the several large TVs in the room showed Obama the victor in the swing state of Ohio, the room erupted in deafening cheers.

“Ohio! It’s going to happen friends, it’s going to happen.,” DeLauro shouted, to roars of approval from the crowd.

“It will be a Barack nation!” she announced, as the crowd jumped up an down, waving DeLauro and Obama signs.

As she finished her speech, Kool and the Gang erupted over the sound system (“Celebrate Good Times, Come On!”) and DeLauro waded into the crowd to hug her family and supporters.

Next Up, 2010

Contacted by phone after DeLauro’s victory speech, Boaz ItsHaky expressed his satisfaction with his loss.

“Considering the fact the Rosa DeLauro had over a million dollars, versus the zero dollars that I had, I think I was very successful,” ItsHaky said. “If I could have raised half as much money as her, I could have beaten her in a heartbeat.”

ItsHaky said that he plans to invoke his Plan B: running again in 2010. And then in 2012, and 2014, and even 2016, if necessary.

“My 2010 campaign has just begun,” he said. “I’m going to run until I beat her.”

ItsHaky added that he received precious little support from the Republican Party. “I’m very, very disappointed with my own party.”

“The numbers are looking pretty good,” said Green Party candidate Ralph Ferrucci, reached by phone at the Sisters of Mercy concert at Toad’s Place, where the bar TVs were showing him at 3 percent.

Ferrucci said that his target had been to get between 3 and 5 percent of the vote, in order to continue building the Green Party in New Haven.

Ferrucci said that he was being asked to run for mayor again, but had not made a final decision on the matter.