We had it just to have a party, and since we were having a party, we wanted the money to go to a good cause. Now I think the fundraising for CARC is what's really important, it's what's taken over.

I'm a registered Democrat and, like a lot of my species here in Connecticut, I don't know whom I'm going to vote for in August. If I had to vote tomorrow, I'd vote for Ned Lamont, but I'd leave the polling place shaking my head, wondering what the hell happened to Joe Lieberman.

We didn't know from year to year whether we were going to keep doing that, and now it does seem to have grown as an institution in Hartford.

I have... had a disturbing dream in which I break through a cave wall near Nag Hammadi and discover urns full of ancient Coptic scrolls. As I unfurl the first scroll, a subscription card to some Gnostic exercise magazine flutters out.

It's a lot of money. ... I think it shows that the party is serious about keeping the seat.

Bush raised money up to that level, then stopped and allowed the party to take over the funding of the campaign and the advertising. After that point, public financing in Florida has not really been doing what it was meant to do in the beginning.