Politics

State Rep. William Tong, D-Stamford, announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate today on WFSB's "Face the State" and via an emailed statement.

"After overwhelming support and encouragement from my family,
constituents, State Democratic Leaders, and friends from around
Connecticut, I've decided to run for the United States Senate," Tong said.

He enters the race for the Democratic nomination for the open Senate seat next year as the least known of the contenders, vying with U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy and former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewiciz.

Oh, the state Capitol loves its mysteries.

Try this one: Who wrote a provision in the newly revised budget that shifts control over the public financing of campaigns from the non-partisan State Elections Enforcement Commission to a partisan elected official, the secretary of the state?

Not us, says the governor's staff. Or us, says the secretary of the state's office. Or us, say the leaders of the House and Senate, the committee that approved the budget, and the panel responsible for elections law.

The "birther" movement that prompted President Barack Obama to release his long-form birth certificate yesterday is part of a broader attack on civil rights, the Rev. Jesse Jackson told minority legislators in Hartford today.

Jackson slipped into the Legislative Office Building for an unpublicized, closed-door meeting with the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, urging them to be aware of what he described as a burgeoning state's rights campaign.