Political Wire notes explosive news in the Nutmeg State this morning: "The Hartford Courant sent a bunker bomb in to Connecticut Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Alan Schlesinger's flagging campaign today with revelations that the former legislator was successfully sued for thousands of dollars in casino debts he ran up in Atlantic City venues. Schlesinger's campaign was rocked last week by the news that, among other things, he had gambled in a Connecticut Indian casino under an assumed name, Alan Gold. His luck will have run out now.
"Word of his gambling debts will renew calls for Schlesinger to abandon his tattered candidacy. His falling fortunes caused much speculation Thursday on a successor candidate in the wake of a Quinnipiac poll showing Democrat challenger Ned Lamont leading incumbent Joseph Lieberman for the first time in the August 8th primary. Fainthearted Republicans who had declined to run in the spring, when they thought Lamont a minor protest candidate, are witnessing the rare second chance in the simultaneous declines of Lieberman and Schlesinger."
We'll be covering this story on Political Wire through the day.
