David Freedlander of the Daily Beast just doesn't get it. Gov. Dannel Malloy (D-Conn.) is the Left's "dream governor," pushing through "higher taxes on the rich.... [a] state earned income tax credit for the poor...higher minimum wage" and a laundry list of other "progressive" agenda items like "mandatory paid sick leave, repeal of the death penalty, more liberal marijuana laws, easier ballot access, a transgender rights bill, strict new gun control laws, and massive new spending on public education, higher education, and infrastructure."
So then, "Why isn’t Connecticut grateful?" Why is Dannel Malloy on the Democratic governors endangered species list this November, Freedlander wonders (emphasis mine)?:
Less than a week before Election Day, the governor is, as one campaign adviser put it, locked in a “war of attrition,” with the race going deeply negative on both sides, as Republicans brand Malloy a less-truthful Ted Kennedy and the Malloy camp makes Foley sound like a less compassionate Mitt Romney.
And so on a day when the Quinnipiac Poll shows the race tied at 43 percent apiece, about two dozen Democrats cram into Arte Inc, a nonprofit art space in the gritty Fair Haven section of New Haven. Malloy arrives with the governor of Puerto Rico, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, in town to rally Hispanic voters on Malloy’s behalf, and both of Connecticut’s U.S. senators, Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy.
The three are among the only non-Latinos in the room, and after a few moments, it is hard not to see why Malloy isn’t more popular. For all the GOP’s attempts to paint him as a class warrior, Malloy comes across as less a bleeding heart raising a fist for social equality and more a policy wonk patiently explaining to a classroom of PoliSci students why a higher minimum wage boosts economic growth or why paid sick leave is a necessary public health measure.
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Malloy was the party’s first experiment outside the Empire State and part of the reason why he has been able to hew so closely to a progressive agenda. The party is known in particular for its ability to draw out voters on down-ballot races. This year, it has 50 field organizers working to elect Malloy and progressive legislators.
“You would be hard-pressed to find a governor who is stronger on the issues that we care about,” said Lindsay Farrell, the WFP state director. She spoke with The Daily Beast moments after Malloy stepped into a WFP field office to rally the troops. “Look at the amount of legislation that has been passed. There is a strong case to be made that he is one of the most pro middle class, pro worker governors in America.”
Malloy, though, will not have it. If there is a division in the Democrat Party, he insists he is not on either side. Standing in the parking lot of the boxing gym, he makes no mention, Robert Kennedy-style, of doing something about the poverty that surrounds the neighborhood, told no story of his own hardscrabble upbringing.
“We did some progressive things. They were good public policy,” he shrugs. “I have just been the man in the middle, trying to make sure that we steer the right course.”
