Pundits have been saying former state representative Jonathan Pelto faces a difficult road in his run for governor, and the Democrat turned independent admitted as much on Face the State this past Sunday.
Pelto declared his candidacy the morning of our taping, and told me it was unlikely he could win, but not impossible. He also strongly believes Governor Malloy won’t be re-elected, so I asked Pelto the obvious question, does that mean he thinks Tom Foley is our next governor? “That’s what this campaign is all about. It is up in the air,” Pelto told me and he said his votes will come from not only disgruntled Democrats, but independents and Republicans, too. eld “If the kinds of e-mails and calls I am getting are any indication, there are a lot of people who say we need to change the direction we are headed.” He gave Malloy a C or C- for his performance as a governor.
Of course, Pelto first has to get on the ballot by acquiring 7,500 signatures or perhaps be endorsed by a party with a spot on ballot. The Working Families Party is one possibility, and could break the image some say it has of being merely a wing of the Democratic party.
To assess Pelto’s chances of making it on the ballot, we brought in a well known Democrat, former secretary of the state Susan Bysiewicz, who advised Pelto to get two or three times the number of signatures needed.
Bysiewicz has plenty of expertise on ballot issues and statewide elections, having won a handful of them. We paired her up with Republican John Decker, who lost a race for congress in CT-1 to Congressman John Larson in 2012. Decker, like most of the GOP is cautiously optimistic that Pelto’s candidacy will help Republicans, but they could also face a challenge from Joe Visconti, not trying to do what Pelto is doing.
Watch Pelto here: http://www.wfsb.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=10264498
Watch Bysiewicz and Decker here: http://www.wfsb.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=10264515
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Dennis House 
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