“Civility” At Debate

(Updated) Rocky Hill — Supporters of the two Democratic candidates for governor showed up early outside the pair’s last scheduled debate Tuesday morning, as one of the candidates urged a ​“civil” tone.

The one-hour debate between candidates Ned Lamont and Dan Malloy, who face each other in an Aug. 10 Democratic primary, is being taped at WFSB’s Rocky Hill studios at 1 p.m. It will air on both WFSB (Channel 3) and WNPR at 3 p.m. and then again at 8 p.m.

The campaign’s supporters hauled signs to the studio’s winding entrance, as expectations ran high about how the contest would impact what’s considered to be a tight contest. Chanting and cheering started early. Twenty-five year-old UConn janitor Arnaldo Cruz (pictured at the top of the story with Malloy sign) brought his 5 year-old son Jordan to the scene; his union, SEIU’s 32BJ, is backing Malloy’s candidacy.

Return here at 4 o’clock for a blow-by-blow account of the debate and its spin-zone aftermath. WFSB has asked reporters to embargo stories about the debate until then. (Don’t ask.)

In the month before the election, Lamont has resisted Malloy’s calls for a one-on-one televised debate. He said he didn’t like the negative tone of the campaign. He originally turned down WFSB’s invitation to debate.

Then as Malloy started airing attack ads on Lamont, Lamont’s campaign returned with a salvo of their own grainy televised smears.

As Lamont took heat for ducking a debate, he changed course and agreed to participate today. This morning he issued a pledge to ​“take the high road.”

“I decided to participate in this debate with Dan Malloy because I wanted the voters to see and hear from us directly, without the negative back and forth that has dominated the airwaves in the last ten days,” he said.

“Sure I want a civil debate. That’s what debates are,” Malloy responded as he marched to the studio with a band of supporters cheering behind him. Then, in a quick speech to the crowd, he took a shot at Lamont for ducking a previous debate in New London.

Lamont made brief remarks to his own band of supporters marching with him to the door, promising to stick to issues in the debate.

Conventional wisdom holds that a low turnout election helps Malloy, because he has the support of party regulars outside the big cities. In an August primary, a candidate like Lamont needs to excite people who don’t normally vote to come to the polls, the way he did in a 2006 U.S. Senate primary. So a dynamic debate performance would help.

Sneak preview: The debate was civil! For the most part. But shhh!! We can’t tell you more, until 4 p.m.