New Haven Independent

“Bice-uh-WITZ … kee?” asked Dee, a woman walking her dog by the Dwight Co-op Homes.

“Bye … ZEEK?” ventured computer engineer Jervon Drayton as he waited for a bus on Church Street.

“I would assume,” said graduate student Eric Guindon, “it’s bice-YAY-vich?”

They were among the people stopped at random and asked to look at half-inch tall printed letters spelling the name of Susan Bysiewicz, the Democrat topping the polls in the campaign for the top job in Connecticut.

The random survey took place after incumbent Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell stunned the state this week by announcing she won’t seek reelection next year.

That drew attention to the crowded, and growing, field of Democrats looking to fill her seat next. The candidate who got the immediate bounce in the polls was Bysiewicz — popularly pronounced BICE-uh-witz.

The election is still a year off. And Bysiewicz has plenty of competition, with six Democrats and counting lining up to wrestle for the nomination. Most of them, including Bysiewicz, have officially formed “exploratory” campaign committees while racing up and down the state seeking cash and endorsements. (Read about that here, here and here.)

Finishing her 11th year as secretary of the state, Bysiewicz appears to start off ahead of the pack in name recognition and popularity. Right before Republican Rell’s retirement announcement late Monday, a new Quinnipiac University poll showed Democrat Bysiewicz closing in on her in a one-on-one match-up, 46 to 40 percent. No other Democrat came close.

Voters haven’t yet paid much attention to the 2010 race. And 44 percent told the Q poll that they need more info about Bysiewicz before forming an opinion of her. Of the rest, 43 percent had a favorable opinion of her; only 11 percent didn’t. Up to 92 percent of respondents said they didn’t have enough info to weigh in on the other Democrats.

Bysiewicz may be ahead in the early running. That doesn’t mean people can pronounce her name yet.

It’s safe to say that among Democratic hopefuls, only Jim Amann (AY - man) comes close in the tongue-tying competition.

Click on the play arrow at the top of the story to watch and hear the attempts of New Haven students, clean-up crews, delivery drivers, produce peddlers and the random rabbi to read the frontrunner’s name when presented with it printed on a sheet of paper.

Even when told her name, almost no one got her current job title right. (A handful came reasonably close.) A few heard she was running for governor.

Bysiewicz herself pronounces her name two different ways.

“If I’m in the Polish community I say ‘buh-SHEVVY,’” the candidate said Thursday in a conversation that featured several detours into the fine points of phonetic spelling. “If I’m not in a Polish event I say ‘BICE-uh-witz.’”

After four runs for statewide office (one primary and three general elections), Bysiewicz said, she’s used to voters adressing her as “Susan uh… uh… uh…”

She noted that she won all those races. And that she received 19,000 votes more than the popular Gov. Rell did in the 2006 election. That means people took the trouble to find her name down on the secretary of the state ballot line.

“I will tell you this,” Bysiewicz said. “I am very proud of my Polish-American last name. One in every ten people in our state is of Polish ancestry. I always thought it was a very positive attribute.”

Two of the New Haveners surveyed who did arrive at the popularly accepted Anglicized pronunciation of the candidate’s name were the youngest: Harmony and India Martinez, ages 8 and 7 (pictured). They were accompanying their mom, Quentina Tyler, on a stroll down Broadway.

It took the kids a few tries before arriving at, “Bye … soo … witz!”

Mom (pictured) hadn’t heard of Bysiewicz. But she’d just moved to Connecticut from New York, to study for her licensed practical nursing certificate. She was interested to hear about the free-for-all underway for the 2010 governor’s election. “I’ll sure enough read up on it,” she promised.

Annie Easley, a retiree waiting for a bus on Church Street after visiting the CitySeed farmers market, didn’t recognize Bysiewicz’s name. She said she does have hopes for change for the 2010 election, though she doesn’t have a candidate yet. She said she’d like to see someone elected “to really help the unfortunate people. That’s very important to me.”

Some previous Independent articles on the 2010 governor’s race:

Lamont Throws His Hat Near Ring
Figueroa Weighs Campaign
Blumenthal “Listening” On Governor Run
New Haven’s View: Rell Opens A Door
Rell Won’t Seek Re-election
Tough Enough To Tackle “Grandma”?
“Have You Ever Visited Florida?