Return of the Kos Kid Candidate

If he's the strongest candidate the Democrats can offer up in Connecticut then the GOP stands a good chance of holding on to the governor's seat.

Touting his experience in creating jobs in his own small business, Democrat Ned Lamont announced Tuesday that he is running for governor in a state that ranks poorly for job creation and expanding businesses.

A cable television entrepreneur who started a business in the mid-1980s that was known then as Lamont Television Systems, the 56-year-old Greenwich resident said that he's more interested in expanding the number of taxpayers than raising taxes on those already working.

In a 17-minute speech to a cheering, standing-room-only crowd on the first floor of the historic Old State House in downtown Hartford, Lamont pointed directly to Sikorsky Aircraft's decision to move engineering jobs to Bozeman, Mont., after they were recruited by the Democratic governor of that state.

"Why, Connecticut, are we losing out to Bozeman?," Lamont asked. "We have the best women's basketball team in the world. They don't lose to anybody, and we're losing to Bozeman. What would Coach Geno say? Go on offense."

Sikorsky announced in 2006 that it would build an engineering design center in Bozeman that would employ 40 engineers, citing a shortage of qualified engineers in Connecticut. Lamont said that jobs did not go to China or India but instead ended up in the unlikely spot of Bozeman.

Lamont fails to note Sikorsky still has employees in a number of Connecticut cities and is even hiring at some of their locations. So the genius kicks off a campaign by bashing a Connecticut-based company that's actually hiring people.