Paul Bass Photo
Nick Balletto Monday in the WNHH FM studio.
Yes, Democrats should be “angry” about Donald Trump’s presidency and should seek answers about possible Russian interference in the last presidential election. But to win elections, they must focus first and foremost on delivering a clear, positive message to voters.
So argued Connecticut Democratic State Chairman Nick Balletto.
Balletto, a former New Haven alder and city party chair who is in his third year in the state job, delivered his prognosis Monday on an episode of WNHH radio’s “Dateline New Haven” program.
As state chair, Balletto said, he has been trying to recruit a new generation of candidates for local office to build “a bench” of officeholders. The Democratic Party no longer controls the State Senate. (It’s tied with the Republicans.) It is in danger of losing the state House in the 2018 elections. And the party is considered vulnerable in the race for the open governor’s office, as well.
Trump’s election motivated young people to start getting involved in elections, the way Balletto did at 16 years old, he said. Between 250 and 300 new people are “seriously interested” in running for local offices throughout the state after going through a training program the state party ran earlier this year, Balletto said.
Social media posting Monday.
One listener to the program posted a Facebook comment about how “Hillary [Clinton won and is totally innocent. Donald and THE FAMILY (the group of Republicans) in complot with Putin and others are a big International Mafia and they are very dangerous …”
Balletto responded that he believes there are legitimate questions about the election that are being investigated in Washington. And he called Trump so bad a president that he can’t bring himself to respect him.
“I think people should question [the election]. People should look at it. I think there should be an investigation. I don’t think it should be our full focus. We played by the rules. We lost by the rules, the electoral college.”
His big takeaway from Democrats’ 2016 national election disaster: “There was no clear direct message on what difference was going to be made if Hillary Clinton was elected president. I see that as the clear mistake that was made by the campaign.
“I don’t think that can be our campaign, either” when Democrats run for state offices in the 2018 elections, Balletto said. “We learned [in 2016] that people want a clear message. They want to know what we’re going to do, what we’re going to deliver,” not just that Donald Trump is “bad.”
The Connecticut Democrats’ message?
“The message has to be clearly that we feel, we understand, we see what everyone’s going through here in Connecticut,” Balletto said. “The governor has done major, responsible things to turn the state around and to fund and have a responsible budget as we go ahead. That’s what Democrats do. That’s what we fight for. We try to make a better life for people in Connecticut. Connecticut had the best Affordable Care Act system in the entire country. Whether you’re moderate, conservative, or not, people should have health care in America. Whether you’re a child or a senior, you should not have to worry about where your pills are going to come from or whether you can have health care.”
Click on or download the above audio file to listen to the full interview with Nick Balletto on WNHH radio’s “Dateline New Haven,” including a discussion about public financing of campaigns, the current state budget mess, and what he learned from the late New Haven Democratic Party leader Arthur T. Barbieri.
The episode of was made possible with the support of Gateway Community College and Berchem, Moses & Devlin, P.C.