Always brings a gun to a knife fight

Is Susan Bysiewicz going soft on us?  The former Secretary of the State has a Terminator-like intensity, defying the odds of the Hartford political circles with impressive fundraising and sheer force of will to press on when everyone tells her to get out. In her primary race for U.S. Senate, Bysiewicz has made skewering Wall Street her touchstone for entry into the most exclusive club in the world. If you put Susan Bysiewicz in charge, Jamie Diamond and the House of Morgan won't get a square meal at the Longworth cafeteria. It's almost a conservative argument and one I find somewhat appealing. It also fits nicely into the narrative of Bysiewicz as the outsider.

So, what does Susan Bysiewicz do to introduce herself on the airwaves? She does a gauzy piece on supporting breast cancer treatments at hospitals. Bysiewicz was one of about 94 co-sponsors of the bill. The ad features a sturdy and grateful patient who came through such an operation. Was this ad an attempt to soften Suzie Q.'s reputation as the Madame Defarge of Democratic politics - without the knitting skills? Let's hope not.

I want the Susan Bysiewicz, who I have grown to admire and respect, to hit Chris Murphy with a figurative sock full of quarters so hard it knocks that you-know-what eating grin off his face. I want her to pop him in the side of the head with a rhetorical two-by-four so that grin turns upside down.

It's not like Susan hasn't been here before. She lost the party convention in 1998 to Ellen Scalettar, a demur, pleasant fellow legislator and the darling of the liberals. When the primary was over and Susan was done pistol whipping her, Scalettar didn't recognize herself in the mirror.

Democrats felt so sorry for Scalettar that they set her with various six-figure jobs at the Capitol after Ellen got the once over from Suzie Q. One Bysiewicz television ad implied that Scalettar was sympathetic to child molesters. Now that is what I'm talking about. Bysiewicz won the primary, won the election and served three terms before running for governor and then attorney general.  Many thought she was finished when the state Republican Party won a lawsuit against her claim that she was qualified to run for AG. It only made her more determined. But, where is that spunk now? Where is that drive to keep coming at 'em, now matter what the odds or how fierce the winds of derision?


How to Hit the Murph
There is plenty of material to use against the Murph. Let's start with that "The Senator from Wholefoods" ad Murphy is running to introduce his sweet self to the Democrat voters. If anything, this ad tells everything about Murphy. It attempts to make it seem that Murphy and his delightful wife have time to shop and compare the prices of mangos. But in reality, it speaks to someone's dire need to be somebody. Every item in that market has gone up in price because of how Chris Murphy sees the world - higher taxes, higher spending and wind mills instead of oil rigs for our energy. It also is tone deaf to life in general. Most voters in Connecticut are not skipping through life, praising their elective leaders for "sticking up for women." I mean, what is he talking about? Is 8-percent unemployment, homes under water, public debt - that we can't repay - sticking up for women? Is it sticking up for anybody?

Suzie Q can have it both ways here on the economy and the high rollers that have freely bought the Murphy model - nice looking kid, understands our problems and returns our phone calls.

But she should try to out-liberal Murphy. She has tried to lump Murphy in with Wall Street, but she needs some to show some bodies on the field of battle. Throw some images of the lifestyles of the rich and famous who got bailed out and the middle class families evicted because Chris Murphy thought incompetent banks were too big to fail or accuse him of double talking by doing nothing about rolling up Gitmo or ending warrantless searches.

The insider-outsider argument can work for Democrats, too, and now Bysiewicz is an outsider, a mother who has raised teenage children, and a lawyer, getting some real practice at the bar under her belt. Bysiewicz can genuinley claim she has been fighting the machine all her life - so Suzie, "tear down the wall, tear down the wall."

She Has "It"but Will She Use it?

And while Murphy is a natural campaigner, Suzie Q is no slouch with the faithful. Bysiewicz does play well to rank-and-file voters. They like her. Bysiewicz's often derided  "awards" that she handed out to Veterans during her SOTS days earned her many friends.

If Bysiewicz can work those relationships and take off the white gloves and show those fists of brass, then the Muph could still be had.

Never count Susan Bysiewicz out in a knife fight because she usually brings a gun. But, Susan, now is the time to lock and load. We are counting on you.