The race for governor is getting a little deeper Tuesday with a state legislator jumping in to run for the 2010 election.
Sen. Gary LeBeau, a Democrat from East Hartford, is considering running for governor in 2010 and will establish an exploratory committee, he said Tuesday.
LeBeau was a member of the state House of Representatives for four years and lost a race for the state Senate in 1994 to Republican Kevin Rennie by 76 votes, the Hartford Courant reports. Two years later, he defeated Rennie.
LeBeau plans on making a decision on the statewide race by early next year.
Right now, it looks like the August Democratic primary could be between LeBeau, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy and former state House Speaker James Amann.
Rell’s popularity has dropped but it’s still 65 percent, according to a Quinnipiac Poll released last week, and 58 percent of voters said they would definitely or probably vote for her. The poll mentioned no other candidates.
Christopher Healy, chairman of the state Republican Party, told the Courant LeBeau has little chance.
Politics
"I guess it proves that under this Democratic absurd campaign finance law, anyone can be a gubernatorial candidate," Healy said. "Maybe he's had enough of the Senate. ... I don't think anyone is going to beat Gov. Rell under any circumstance. It's a moot argument."
Congressional Quarterly reports that Rell is the “strong favorite for re-election in 2010, should she decide to run,” but she has raised less than other candidates.
She raised $20,000 in the second quarter of 2009, CQ reported on July 12 while Bysiewicz raised $141,000 and Malloy $147,000. Bysiewicz has $171,000, Malloy had $195,000 at the end of June and Rell reported $71,000 in the bank.
Amman had not released his fund-raising report for the period as of July 13.
Rell had not confirmed that she will seek re-election and CQ pointed out that her lack of fund-raising raises questions about how serious she is about another run.
