He’ll need a new brand of soap. But Merrick Alpert continued running hard for the U.S. Senate Wednesday even though his chief target, Chris Dodd, dropped out.
Alpert has been waging an underdog campaign for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. His argument has been: the five-term Democratic incumbent, Chris Dodd, can’t be reelected, in part because of ethics scandals. At a Dec. 29 New Haven political gathering two weeks ago, Alpert handed out bars of soap (pictured) to make his point: The wrapper read, “Won’t it Be Nice To Have A Clean Senator.”
The gimmick dissolved Wednesday as Dodd conceded Alpert’s point — he’s too unpopular to win — but a squeaky-clean new front-runner emerged.
That front-runner is Dick Blumenthal. Blumenthal has served as attorney general, and a senator or governor in waiting, for two decades. He has a 78 percent approval rating, statewide name recognition as high as any brand of soap, and perhaps most importantly, no scandals attached to his name. Blumenthal announced Wednesday that he’s immediately jumping in to the race for the Democratic senatorial nomination to replace Dodd.
That didn’t faze Alpert. After touring a Plainville food pantry, he declared that he’ll “absolutely” remain in the race, despite the change in opponents.
“While some of the players may change, the issues facing the people of Connecticut don’t,” Alpert asserted. “People want to focus on private sector job creation, clean government, and getting out of Afghanistan. I’ll continue to discuss those issues. That’s what folks care about.”
He argued that people don’t care that much about “personalities.”
He said he “welcomes” Blumenthal into the race for the Democratic nomination.
“We need to have a vigorous primary process. That’s the best way to have an issues-based campaign and have the strongest Democratic candidate,” he said.
Will Alpert now go back on FoxNews to sling mud at Dick Blumenthal?
And Paul, why give attention to just another Ferrucci?