Chris Murphy

You’ve probably seen or read about the new poll in Connecticut that gives Joe Lieberman his worst marks ever – a 45-43 approval rating. A second poll released this morning finds that Lieberman’s addition to John McCain’s ticket would actually turns off far more Connecticut voters than it would excite.

The numbers can be partly attributed to Lieberman’s prominent role in the presidential campaign as a McCain surrogate. Elected officials often pay a price in their backyard for venturing onto the national stage. Not surprisingly, Chris Dodd – who spent most of 2007 and the first three days of 2008 waging a hopeless presidential campaign – also scored his worst-ever job approval numbers in the same poll.  read more »

One of Connecticut's three endangered Republican House members has fallen and the other two are in grave danger. Nancy Johnson, a moderate 12-term incumbent from West Hartford, has been unseated by Democratic state Senator Chris Murphy, giving Democrats a success in a race they weren't expected to win early in this cycle. The state's other two Republicans, Chris Shays and Rob Simmons, are in tight races, though Shays leads in the early returns. -- Steve Kornacki