It’s all about the boats: Is wealth changing Connecticut politics?

The gap between rich candidate and not-so-rich candidate is enormous in Connecticut this year. To illustrate the great divide, you could easily choose real estate, watches or cars (say Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele's wife's 2007 Maseratti Quattroporte versus Danbury Republican Mark Boughton's 1993 Chevy pickup truck).

Do you now have to be rich to be successful in big-time Connecticut politics (or politics in general)? And can these wealthy candidates identify with the problems of just-average voters, most of whom don't have any boats at all?

About the boats:

• Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Dannel Malloy's 28-foot powerboat
• Republican Senate candidate Rob Simmons's J-22 sailboat
• Republican Linda McMahon's husband's 47-foot sports yacht "Sexy Bitch" docked in Boca Raton, Florida (wife of Vince McMahon, with whom she ran World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)) Nice
• Republican Tom Foley's 100-foot ship "Odalisque" flagged under the Republic of Marshall Islands and hailing from the port of Bikini. (Odalisque comes from the Turkish for a slave in a harem.) Even Nicer

The more important issue for voters might be whether Connecticut's crop of millionaire contenders have the leadership skills and the ideas that can make a difference in the their lives. And candidates, while making their issue pitches, also are portraying themselves as people who understand those common problems.

These are not people who understand the "common problems" of every day Americans nor sexy bitches.