Visconti for Congress

The intrepid naturalist wishing to observe Connecticut political candidates in their native habitat must awaken at a ridiculously early hour to catch the campaign bus. At least, that's what I had to do on May 1 when Joe Visconti kicked off his Congressional campaign to represent the Nutmeg State's First District.

No matter where you are on the political spectrum, running a successful campaign requires help from the sort of people career guidebooks call "detail-oriented." In Joe's case, much of this detail orientation comes from two Professional Republicans associated with state- or district-level party headquarters who accompanied Joe on the campaign bus on May 1.

Those who care about fashion will be unsurprised to hear that Joe and the PRs all wore suits. That's to be expected with any party's campaign, be it Democrat, Green or my beloved Libertarians. More casually dressed were the two camera-toting interns from the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, who spent the day collecting video footage of scenes like Joe making speeches, Joe shaking hands, and me looking up from my book saying "That thing better not be on."

We all met in a Farmington commuter lot at 7:30 in the morning, and were on the road by eight. The schedule called for six stops scattered throughout the district: three City Halls (in Torrington, Bristol and Manchester), two private golfers' clubs in West Hartford and Newington, and breakfast at a restaurant in Barkhamstead.

"One-third of your total itinerary takes place on golf courses," I observed to the PRs. "You really are Republicans, aren't you?"

Republican or no, the day played out exactly as you'd expect from a challenger introducing his campaign against a long-entrenched incumbent: We arrived at each stop before the scheduled start time. Before giving his speech, Joe milled about for awhile, chatting with whoever had come out to the event. The short speech basically boiled down to "Hi, I'm running for Congress and here's the reasons I'll be better than the guy there now." Then Joe took questions from the audience, and we all went to the next stop where he started all over again.

One stop stood out: the very first of the day, Torrington City Hall at nine in the morning.

Torrington's Mayor Ryan Bingham hosted the event, and while making small talk with Joe he mentioned in passing that, during the three years Bingham's been mayor, he's never once met Congressman John Larson.

I thought little of this until after Joe's speech, when he invited questions from the audience. A gentleman sitting near the back raised his hand and asked Joe if he would ever bother coming out to Torrington.

"Am I out here now?" Joe asked.

Later, over breakfast at a restaurant in Barkhamstead, Joe and the PRs talked about that. "It's something to hear a three-year Mayor say he'd never met the Congressman from his district," one of the PRs observed.

"You'll see Bigfoot in Barkhamstead before you see John Larson," Joe said.

"Well, this is an election year," someone else pointed out.

"Tell the good folk of Torrington and Barkhamstead not to take it personally," I said. "For all the time I spent as a journalist covering Larson's own district, and all the times I called his office for a quote - or even a press release - about whatever legislation he was pushing at the time, I've never spoken to or heard from John Larson either."

Which is one reason I won't repeat the vote-for-Larson mistake I made last election.

In all my time working in The Media, I've never been one to annoy politicians with questions about their personal lives. I only call politicians to ask about their actual jobs.

And an elected official who consistently refuses to answer or even listen to questions about legislative matters affecting his constituents might be fine in a hereditary monarchy, but not in a democratic republic like America.