Rebuilding year...

An interesting piece on the AP wire this morning regarding the state Republican meeting held over the weekend.

Newly appointed Chairman of the GOP State Central Committee Chris Healy told about 70 Republicans in attendence that unless the party can successfully recruit new candidates for elected office, the party will have little chance of being a player in state affairs. Republicans took a beating in last year's election, losing two Congressional seats and a number of General Assembly seats - handing the Democrats a veto-proof majority in both the state House of Representatives and state Senate.

On a side note, the southeastern Connecticut legislative delegation - which use to promote its bipartisan approach to addressing concerns from the region - can't play the bipartisan card anymore. Every member of the delegation is now a Democrat. In fact, there are only two sitting GOP lawmakers from all of eastern Connecticut - Mike Caron from Killingly and Mike Alberts from Woodstock.

Alan Schlesinger was also on hand for the weekend conference, hosted by the Connecticut Conservative Congress, entitled "Defining the Republican Party in Connecticut." Schlesinger, who finished a distant third in the US Senate race last year, said the state party needs"dynamic changes" if it is to continue to be a voice in state politics.