GOP's David Cappiello Limps Into 5th District Race

Hobbled by his connection to the most corrupt group of politicians ever assembled under any political party's history, the GOP's David Cappiello will toss his name into the meat grinder that almost every GOP candidate will have to face in the state of Connecticut because of the meat grinder they have created for the soldiers in Iraq.

Unofficially it began Nov. 7 of last year. Officially the race for the state's 5th District Congressional seat started Wednesday when five-term state Sen. David Cappiello announced - more than 18 months before Election Day - that he's challenging freshman U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy.

"I've accepted that I'm the underdog and that I'm going to have to reach as many voters as I can," Cappiello said in telephone interview during a break from Wednesday's marathon session at the state Capitol. The Danbury senator, a 38-year-old mortgage broker, may be the first Republican to file paperwork for the 5th District contest with the Federal Election Commission, but it's likely he won't be the last.

The state's Republican party took a hit in 2006 when 12-term incumbent Nancy Johnson lost to Murphy and three-term incumbent Rob Simmons lost the 2nd District race to Democrat Joe Courtney.

The GOP... Just call them the hamburger party. No word yet if Joe neocon Lieberman will have any beefs with his fellow Republican David Cappiello, and if he will cross the aisle and support Murphy in the first truly bipartisan move of his recent career.