Today is primary day in Connecticut. Talk about voter suppression! The state’s political elite schedule a primary in mid-AUgust, when 5% of the eligible voters will participate (and that’s an optimistic prediction.) ******************* Living in Connecticut can be the “best of times, and the worst of times. This writer spent 5 years in this wonderful state, going to school and living in poverty. And the memories are positive. It’s a state that can juxtapose the beautiful UConn campus in Storrs, with the Appalachian-type dead city of Willimatic 10 miles away. This state of contradictions has the Gold Coast, the Danburys, the exurbia for wealthy Manhattanites, as well as Hartford, one of the poorest cities in America. This state of contrasts has New England small towns where Main Street and small d, democracy, flourish, tucked between cities where international corporations fly their company flags. Politically, it remains a blue state. But the traditional liberalism of labor union and New Deal coalitions is long gone. The former Dem. now independent, Sen. Joe Lieberman is retiring. As he has said, there is no path for him to run and win re-election. While it’s difficult to define Mr. Joe, it’s clear he never was a New Deal/Great Society Hubert Humphrey. The activist Dem. base saw him as a corporate liberal; a strong supporter of the submarine base in Groton; the military-industrial complex; and the Hartford insurance giants. The Ct. GOP has moved far to the right, and the far right Linda McMahon will win the Senate primary today. This wealthy woman was the long-time owner of the WWF, which she transposed into a quasi- pornographic S & M spectacle that had grown men throwing each other out of a ring…a popular extravaganza that really doesn’t elevate our culture. McMahon will win today, but I’m convinced she will lose again in Nov. I know she will lose because I have confidence in the good sense of the Nutmeggers.