Obamas Hitting Connecticut To Campaign For Gov. Dannel Malloy
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- First lady Michelle Obama is the latest high-profile Democrat to campaign for Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy.
The president's wife is scheduled to appear Thursday at an afternoon campaign rally in New Haven for Malloy and the Connecticut Democrats. Her husband, President Barack Obama, is slated to headline another rally Sunday afternoon in Bridgeport.
Democrats are working to encourage their base to come out and vote in this year's tight gubernatorial election. Polls released this week by Quinnipiac University and CBS/New York Times showed Malloy and his Republican challenger, Greenwich businessman Tom Foley, locked in a dead heat.
Obamas Hitting Connecticut To Campaign For Gov. Dannel Malloy
Foley, who has appeared with Govs. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, said a neck-and-neck race in a state with a large Democratic registration advantage is "huge for us."
"The fact that so many Democrats and unaffiliateds in our base are supporting me and it's even means that's a pretty resounding rejection of his record," Foley told WCBS 880's Paul Murnane.
Foley said the big names only help so much.
"What's happened in Connecticut here is really what's going to be on people's minds and not surrogates that are brought into the state," the former U.S. ambassador to Ireland said. "They either think that the state's doing OK and they want to have four more years of Gov. Malloy, or they're not happy and they want change and they're going to vote for me."
Malloy has said steps he has taken as governor, including a tax increase, were the right things to do during hard times.
He is expected to announce $20 million in new roads as part of a project on the old New Haven Coliseum site, the New Haven Register reported.
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