AP Recalls Nod For Malloy In Conn. Gov Race
HARTFORD, Conn. (CBS 2/ WCBS 880/1010 WINS/ AP) -- Connecticut's race for governor just got a lot more interesting.
Despite self-proclaimed winner Dan Malloy saying he's moving ahead with the transition into office, The Associated Press announced late Wednesday night it was recalling its official call in the race. Instead, the wire service said after reviewing its own count it had Republican Tom Foley up 8,424 votes over Democrat Malloy, with all but 1.5 percent of the precincts counted.
WCBS 880 spoke to Foley late Wednesday night and got his reaction to the new news.
"Good news for us because since the Election eve we've been saying our own tabulations of the results on Election day had us winning the race and we're trying to reconcile our tabulations with Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz, who says we're down and the Malloy campaign who says we're down by 11,000 votes, which seems impossible. So, we're grateful to have the AP weighing in on our side," Foley said.
Foley talks with WCBS 880 about the AP recalling the official call in the race
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The Malloy camp, however, issued a statement late Wednesday night refusing to back down from its declaration of victory.
"We are aware what the AP is reporting, and we're confident they're wrong. Their numbers for New Haven are wrong, and they're leaving out a significant number of votes in Bridgeport. We remain confident that we are ahead by more than enough votes to avoid a recount," Malloy campaign manager Dan Kelly said.
The AP announcement is a stunner considering Democratic Secretary of the State Bysiewicz said Wednesday that unofficial election results showed Malloy defeating Foley by 3,103 votes out of more than 1.1 million cast, above the threshold of 2,000 or fewer that would trigger an automatic recount. The total didn't include absentee ballots, which Bysiewicz believed wouldn't change the outcome.
"I'm confident that the votes will be correctly counted in the end and whoever wins will become our governor and that's the way it should work," Foley said.
Earlier Wednesday Malloy told CBS 2's Lou Young he was a man ready to assume office.
"Yeah, pretty good news today. It was a good day," Malloy said, seemingly unaware of what was to come.
The former mayor of Stamford was in Hartford after spending a long Tuesday night watching see-saw vote counts keep the outcome in doubt. Then when darkness moved well into daylight the Democrat declared victory for himself and running mate Nancy Wyman.
"This is a tough mission that Nancy and I have accepted. The state is in dire shape. We need to begin the process today of creating Connecticut in a different economic model," Malloy said.
His opponent wasn't so sure. Foley suggested he may challenge the election results based on voting irregularities and varying tally counts. He did not concede.
"The thing you hope for on Election night is that there is a decision made and the person who wins can get started with preparing to serve in government and the person who loses can get on with whatever he's going to do. It's a little frustrating to be stuck still in a place where we don't know the outcome," Foley said.
Part of the problem Tuesday night was in Bridgeport, where too few ballots were ordered and many voters used photocopies that were hand counted all night.
WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reports on a confrontation between Foley and Secretary of State Bysiewicz
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WCBS 880's Sean Adams with Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch
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WCBS 880's Sean Adams on the Bridgeport ballot shortage
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1010 WINS' Al Jones with comments from both Malloy and Foley
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An exhausted registrar told Young it took all night.
"We don't do hand counts like this and this was and we went big time. It was a massive hand count," Joseph Borges said.
And a huge mistake, but Malloy said it won't stop him from taking the reigns of government.
"We're transitioning, period. People have their own set of rights. I am quite confident about what's going to happen and what the outcome will be," Malloy said.
Foley, a millionaire businessman from Greenwich, said Wednesday that his numbers showed him winning, but by fewer than 2,000 votes. He said he was waiting for Bysiewicz's office to turn over its town-by-town vote totals so he could see where the discrepancies are and decide what action, if any, to take.
"We're still trying to find out what the official vote count is,'' Foley said. "We're going to have to start getting ready in case we're confirmed to be the winner.''
Bysiewicz has until Nov. 25 to certify the results.
