Not really. Chris Healy, the state GOP chairman, calls Mystic businessman Merrick Alpert “a crazed liberal.”
But, Healy adds, “at least he was cogent and coherent” during Monday night’s debate with his Democratic opponent, state Attorney General (and presumptive Democratic nominee) Richard Blumenthal.
Alpert’s public approval rating among Democrats is mired at 4 percent according to the latest Q poll, But he seems to have some fans among Republicans, who will cheer anyone trying to pierce Blumenthal’s sky-high public approval ratings.
“If you happen to catch the debate, it is easy to see why Dick Blumenthal didn’t want to debate Merrick Alpert,” Healy said in an email sent to reporters before the candidates had even cleared the stage at the University of Hartford’s Lincoln Theater.
“Blumenthal’s responses were pedestrian,” Healy continued. “His grasp of issues weak and some of his assertions simply wild exaggerations. He claimed his had “law enforcement” duties when he doesn’t; made an incoherent proposal on cutting payroll taxes without saying for how long or at what level of income, took credit for saving lives and said he had witnessed the direct effects of military action. On that last one, I would like to know what battlefield Blumenthal inspected.”