The general election is more than 100 days away -- 111 at the time of writing this. If you hate the attack ads and campaign commercials that usually flood the airwaves, then this will be a long 100-plus days, because they have already started.
Of course, the Republican candidates face a looming primary on August 12, but even incumbent Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy is buying up air time.
Here's a round-up of the TV spots that have been released so far:
DAN MALLOY: DEMOCRAT FOR GOVERNOR
"Tough Times"
7/14/14
It's early for an incumbent governor not facing a primary opponent to start airing campaign spots.
On WNPR's Where We Live, Daniela Altimari from The Hartford Courant said the emphasis of this commercial is, "Dan Malloy is a good guy in a crisis."
However, columnist Kevin Rennie pointed out that Malloy himself never speaks. "I believe the reason for that is that they want to urge people to vote for Dan Malloy, but they want to keep Dan Malloy as far away from the public in these commercials," said Rennie. "Frankly, a lot of people have a viscerally negative reaction to him."
It's also very early for an incumbent governor not facing a primary opponent to start airing campaign spots.
TOM FOLEY: REPUBLICAN FOR GOVERNOR
"Leslie"
7/7/14
This commercial opened up the flood gates for political advertising this year. Colin McEnroe wrote about it in a recent column for The Hartford Courant. "I've been watching and re-watching Foley's new commercial," he wrote, "which is not so much about his race for governor as about what a good husband he'd make."
"Outsider"
7/16/14
The second spot released by Foley's campaign moves quickly into attack mode.
The underlying message? Insiders: Bad. Outsiders: Good. Photos of Malloy and McKinney have the state capitol building in the background with dark colors. Then the music changes, the video gets brighter, and there's Tom Foley meeting with businesses and hanging out with his family.
JOHN McKINNEY: REPUBLICAN FOR GOVERNOR
"Change"
7/15/14
This attack ad is a little unusual that McKinney goes after two candidates at once. NBC Connecticut anchor Gerry Brooks summed up the message of it well. "Ladies and gentlemen, I don't have a lot of time to win your vote, so let's cut to the chase! Here's what I do. Here's what I don't do. Here's what they don't do," said Brooks. "Really, I need you to understand this right away!"
McKinney is widely seen to be trailing Foley in the Republican primary.
Listen to the full analysis of the the first round of campaign commercials from The Wheelhouse panel on WNPR's Where We Live:
