Connolly - Alexander Confrontation

After most people and guests had cleared out, Lori Alexander approached Gerry and flat out stated "You're an angry man".  

I like her style - she calls it like she sees it.  She wasn't mad at Gerry nor, as far as I could tell, looking for a fight.  She was merely stating her observation.  That kind of straight up honesty is very refreshing in politics.

Anyway, after she repeated her observation Gerry came back at her.  To his credit he didn't completely blow his top and there was no obscene language.  In a condescending manner he blasted her with a "You're completely out of line" and her remarks were inappropriate.   He was obviously angry (thus proving her point) but at least he exercised some restraint.  The flip side is that a calm politician would have sought to diffuse the situation, but not Gerry.

At that point the two were separated before anything really ugly went down.  Well, I could add a little more but I don't think it would be appropriate.

Despite the fact that this was not a major blow up, it's all bad for Gerry.  

First, he's got to watch his back.   He's been focused on fighting it out with Leslie and now it appears he will have to deal with an opponent he was unprepared for.  In terms of the primary vote itself, newcomer Lori won't be able to beat Gerry, but in terms of campaigning he'll have to deal with a straight shooter who is unafraid to challenge him on one of his weaknesses.

Second, and perhaps a bigger concern to Gerry, is that she so quickly and easily read that he is an "angry man".  Lori is not an insider and clearly has had very few dealings with Connolly, yet she was able to quickly pick up on his anger issue.  If she saw that in him after three debates, he's got to be concerned about what the voters are seeing and about how he's presenting himself.

The only positive for Gerry coming out of this is that there is only one week left before the primary vote.  

But there is also one debate left.   It's yet to be seen if Sunday's jawing was all to this confrontation.   But given that Lori is a straight talking fighter who isn't going to back down from Gerry even though he thinks she is out-of-line, we might very well see this played out as she questions (as many of us have) if his anger would be a problem as the representative from the 11th.

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