Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, who has established an exploratory committee for a run for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, said if he had been in the state's top elected office he would have enacted a "line item veto" of the $37.6 billion two-year state budget that became law in late summer. Also, he would have provided "some direction to the Legislature on where I thought the major issues were.

[...]

The governor [Rell] announced last month that she would not seek a second full term in office and would retire in January 2011.

[...]

Mr. Boughton said he plans to make a decision by Christmas on whether to seek the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

Former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon (R) is paying her campaign manager, David Cappiello, a salary of about $280,000 -- possibly a record for campaigns in Connecticut.

[...]

"The Connecticut Senate race is one of the highest-profile races in the country, and he brings to this campaign an extensive network of relationships, an intimate knowledge of the state and substantial political experience," said a McMahon campaign official, who confirmed Cappiello's pre-tax salary.

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, led by Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, introduced Tuesday a “historic” bill for comprehensive immigration reform that would allow millions of undocumented aliens to be legalized.

During a press conference at which supporters chanted “Yes we can!” Gutierrez repeated his message that reforming the U.S. immigration system is urgent.

“We’ve waited long enough,” he said. “Just because we’ve been patient doesn’t mean we can wait forever.”

“This bill should be the immigration policy of our country...it’s not complicated. It’s pro-family, pro-jobs and pro-security,” he said of the 700-page text.

Gutierrez expressed confidence that the bill, which will probably be debated in February or March 2010, will win Republican support. For now, all 87 of his co-sponsors are Democrats.

“There is no right or wrong time (to present the bill), there’s just a moral obligation,” said Rep. Nydia Velasquez (D-N.Y.), leader of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has privately told her politically vulnerable Democratic members that they will not vote on controversial bills in 2010 unless the Senate acts first.

After a year of bruising legislative victories that some political analysts believe have done more to jeopardize her majority than to entrench it, Pelosi is shifting gears for the 2010 election.

The Speaker recently assured her freshman lawmakers and other vulnerable members of her caucus that a vote on immigration reform is not looming despite a renewed push from the White House and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The House will not move on the issue until the upper chamber passes a bill, Pelosi told the members.

[...]

“The Speaker has told members in meetings that we’ve done our jobs,” a Democratic leadership aide said. “And that next year the Senate’s going to have to prove what it can accomplish before we go sticking our necks out any further.”