Local Democrats will reconvene on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. at La Cupola's Restaurant, 637 Bantam Road, Litchfield, to nominate a candidate to run in the 66th District against current State Representative Craig Miner. Nathaniel Peters-Kroll from Woodbury was previously nominated in May but withdrew his candidacy, creating the vacancy.

Bill Zappone, a five year resident of Litchfield and sales representative for Xerox, is expected to become the new nominee.

The 66th District is made up of Litchfield, Woodbury, Morris, Warren and Bethlehem.

For further information contact Audrey Blondin, Permanent Chair at 860-489-8997 or William Conti, Litchfield Democratic Town Committee Chairman at 860-482-4451.

WATERBURY – Today the Independent Party of Connecticut announced that it has endorsed Sam Caligiuri’s candidacy for Congress in Connecticut’s Fifth District.

“The Independent Party is proud to endorse Sam Caligiuri’s candidacy. This Congress has promoted policies of over-taxation and over-regulation. Sam will help combat this agenda by fighting for individual freedoms and supporting our free market economy. He has a proven track record of being an independent voice and has stood up to political pressure to do what is best for the taxpayers, which paints a stark contrast to Chris Murphy’s lockstep support of Nancy Pelosi’s policies,” said Dr. Robert Fand, an agent of the Independent Party and moderator of the Caucus where Caligiuri was endorsed. “It is Sam’s record as an independent voice and a proven fiscal conservative that resonates with Independents throughout our District.”

“I am honored to have earned the endorsement of the Independent Party of Connecticut, and I appreciate their work to engage voters who want to correct the course our nation is on, but who may not identify strictly with one party or another. I am eager to offer independent voters a better way forward to a thriving economy,” said Caligiuri.

Caligiuri will appear on the November 2^nd election ballot as both the Republican and Independent Parties’ Nominee for Congress, having also secured the Republican nomination in the August 10^th Republican Primary.

Hartford, CT (AP) - U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd is saying his goodbyes and thanks to the Connecticut AFL_CIO, the state labor umbrella group.

Dodd appeared Monday at the AFL-CIO's political convention in Hartford.

Heurged delegates and guests to support fellow Democrat Dan Malloy in the governor's race and reminded voters "of what the other crowd got us into," referring to national Republicans.

Malloy and his Republican opponent, Tom Foley, were also scheduled to speak at the convention on Monday. The AFL-CIO expects to endorse candidates on Tuesday.

Dodd is not seeking re-election to the Senate. During his 36 years in the Congress, he said he voted with organized labor 96 percent of the time.

Waterbury state Sen. Sam Caligiuri won the Republican nomination in the 5th Congressional District last night by a pretty comfortable margin - 40 percent to Justin Bernier's 31 percent and Mark Greenberg's 29 percent.

But in keeping with the geographic dynamics of the district over the past decade, that margin was by no means a consistent trend across the map.

In fact, Caligiuri placed first in 19 towns in the 5th District, while Bernier won 18 towns, and Greenberg won three (Danbury, Warren and Woodbury).

Bernier won Torrington and smaller towns throughout the Northwest Corner and down into New Milford, but the combined margin of victory in 11 of those towns, because population and Republican primary votes are relatively low, was 590.

He also beat Caligiuri by a combined margin of 978 votes in the Farmington Valley towns of Avon, Canton, Simsbury and Farmington and his hometown of Plainville.

But that was not enough to overcome Caligiuri's dominance in his home base of Waterbury.

He beat Bernier by a combined margin of 2,965 votes in Waterbury and the surrounding towns of Watertown, Wolcott, Southbury, Middlebury and Cheshire.

The two other major communities in the district, were basically a wash, with Caligiuri winning Meriden by a small margin, and Bernier winning New Britain by a small margin.

Caligiuri spoke during the primary campaign about the importance of geography in the general election.

He said that traditionally, the formula for Republican victory in this district is for the nominee to have a base of support that neutralizes the Democratic nominee's votes in one of the two major Democratic strongholds, Waterbury or New Britain.

Nancy Johnson used to win the district by neutralizing Democratic support in her base of New Britain.

Before her, John Rowland used to win by neutralizing his home base of Waterbury for the Democrats.

Caligiuri had argued that he would have similar support in Waterbury, which would be more important to victory in November than Bernier's base in the Farmington Valley, which would be expected to support a Republican regardless of where they are from.

Democratic Congressman Chris Murphy, seeking his third two-year term, is from Meriden.

On the map above, towns won by Bernier are colored in blue, towns won by Caligiuri are colored in red, and towns won by Greenberg are colored in green.

Plainville -- Talking Points Memo, a national news site, reported Thursday morning on a misleading mailer from Sam Caligiuri to voters throughout the Fifth Congressional district.

In the mailer, Caligiuri fraudulently refers to himself as the "Republican Nominee" to challenge incumbent Democrat Chris Murphy. The letter is postmarked July 27, two weeks prior to the August 10th Republican primary election.

According to the Talking Points Memo article, Caligiuri's opponent, Justin Bernier, is saying that the mailer may violate election law.

Here is a link to the TPM article: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/08/accusations-of-illegal-tactics-fly-in-connecticut-republican-primary.php