The frontrunner in the race for the GOP nomination for governor has made it clear he believes the bitter 2010 primary fight led to his narrow defeat to Dannel Malloy. Now, one of Tom Foley’s opponents in the 2014 race is saying he will not run negative ads, and keep the campaign clean.

Senate minority John McKinney made that vow during a taping of Face the State that aired Sunday. McKinney told me the focus is Governor Malloy, but he also made an argument as to why he is the best Republican to take on the governor this fall.

Also Sunday, we were joined by our political analysts Duby McDowell and Brian Flaherty, both of whom were asked which Republican they think will win the primary: McKinney, Foley, or Mark Boughton, who was on Face the State last week.

Our flashback takes us back to the 1994 race for governor, which featured Democrats John Larson and Bill Curry battling it out, along with Lt. Governor Eunice Groark, the independent, and John Rowland the Republican. Twenty years ago this week Duby interviewed political consultants Jay Malcynsky and Jonathan Pelto about the commercials the candidates were running.

We also had a little joke at the expense of our good friend Tom Dudchik of http://www.ctcapitolreport.com Jodi Latina, a panelist on his program, came to the Face the State taping with Senator McKinney. We snapped this quick picture of Jodi on our set and texted it to Tom saying she was sitting in here, and unavailable for his taping. We let him grumble for a few minutes before ‘fessing up.

Watch part 1 (McKinney) http://www.wfsb.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=10217613

Watch part 2 (McDowell & Flaherty) http://www.wfsb.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=10217633

Watch part 3 (flashback) http://www.wfsb.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=10217654