By Mark Pazniokas
West Hartford – In a televised debate tonight, Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Republican challenger Tom Foley met in a political Twilight Zone, each unable or unwilling to recognize the reality of the other’s Connecticut.
Malloy defied polls that show a dispirited and disapproving electorate. He claimed progress, pronouncing himself proud of resolving an inherited $3.67 billion deficit without gutting municipal aid. Foley all but suggested he was mad, seeking votes in a different dimension.
“Sometime, I wonder if he’s living in the same state,” Foley said, prompting titters. Later he said, “It’s simply not true what you’re telling people.”
But Foley joined Malloy in downplaying non-partisan projections of a significant deficit in the coming year, albeit one far smaller than what confronted the first-term Democratic governor after he defeated Foley in 2010. To do otherwise would require Foley to promise more than his proposed budget freeze.
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