18 days.... 17 days.... 16 days.... 15 days.... August 14th Primary day in CT!

All's deader than a doornail across the street at the Capitol, but not for long! Primary day in CT is destined to be a wild one for sure, and that will liven up the Capitol as everyone chills out the day after the results are tallied. A lot can impact the way the Capitol works depending on the outcome, and unless you're working on one of the candidates' campaigns, no one is taking bets yet on who will survive.

With 18 days to go, the more than 30 candidates are holding their collective breath, knocking on doors, dialing for dollars and hoping their internal campaign polling is accurate "enough" to secure their party's nomination for six of the six constitutional offices as well as the 5th Congressional District. On the Republican side, all but the Secretary of the State's seat are being challenged, and on the Democratic side, the current Secretary of the State Denise Merrill and current Comptroller Kevin Lembo are unchallenged in this summer's primary. For the 5th Congressional District, three Republican candidates are squaring off, while on the Democratic side there are only two.

Of the 26 candidates running for statewide office, 14 have secured public financing from CT's campaign finance program, which was established under former Governor M. Jodi Rell. The program was enacted in an attempt to level the field for all candidates and ensure "clean campaigns" that are free of special interest funding and pressure. Both Democratic candidates, for different reasons, are not participating in the state's campaign finance program. Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim doesn't qualify after his felony conviction for abuse of office and leveraging a "pay-to-play" scheme several years ago. Ned Lamont, the party's endorsed candidate, is self-funding. On the Republican side, three candidates have qualified for the program: Mayor Mark Boughton, former Mayor Tim Herbst and - after seven tries - Steve Obsitnik qualified last week. Two other Republican candidates, Bob Stefanowski and David Stemerman, are self-funding their campaigns. That being said, no one is willing to call either race, since it's a strange year.

The candidates for the 5th Congressional race don't have the luxury of public financing, so they are definitely balancing the need to dial for dollars with the travel around the 41 towns of the district. The 5th stretches from Danbury to Sharon to Torrington to Simsbury to New Britain to a part of Middlefield and over to Southbury - crazy gerrymandering for sure! Mary Glassman, endorsed candidate on the Democratic side, has the most funding on hand and even pulled off an event hosted by the other three Congress-people from CT, as well as former Senator Chris Dodd. But newcomer Jahana Hayes sure is leveraging her yet-to-be announced support by Senator Chris Murphy into her own campaign operation. On the Republican side, no one is sure who will surface the winner. Former Meriden councilman Manny Santos is the endorsed candidate, but newcomer Ruby O'Neill and Rich DuPont definitely are mounting a challenge.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the legislative races, but with space running out I'll see you next week for a detailed look at how those are shaping up. And seriously - please be looking for us to use our crystal ball yet. We have our favorite candidates, but it's way too early for anyone to predict what the outcome will be. You'll just have to come back next week to get an update on the latest and greatest concerning CT's August 14th primary.