Two College alums—Republican Nancy L. Johnson ’57 and Democrat James H. Maloney ’70—will battle for control of the Fifth Congressional District in Connecticut tomorrow.

There’s one catch: they’re both incumbents.

In perhaps the most interesting race involving College alums in Congress, reapportionment has merged Johnson and Maloney’s districts.

Now, Johnson is favored to win by what is predicted to be a comfortable margin. A poll by the University of Connecticut released Friday gave Johnson a 17-point lead over Maloney, 53 percent to 36 percent.

State legislators drew the two incumbents into the same district after Connecticut lost one of its six House seats following the 2000 Census.

Johnson, who has served 10 terms, and Maloney, a three-term incumbent, are both moderates who share many of the same views on issues.

Maloney has tried to characterize Johnson as closely tied to big business, while Johnson has stressed her seniority and experience.

Maloney, in addition to three terms as Connecticut’s Fifth Congressional District representative, has also served as a state senator and was twice named the state’s “Legislator of the Year.”

—William C. Martin and Benjamin A. Black

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In West Virginia, U.S. Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV ’58, a Democrat, looks safe in his reelection bid against Republican Jay Wolfe, a former state senator.

Rockefeller received the support of 72 percent of surveyed voters in a Charleston Daily Mail/RMS Research poll conducted Oct. 29. Wolfe polled at 17 percent.

Rockefeller, who had outspent Wolfe 15-to-1 through mid-October, has run on a slate of traditionally Democratic issues, like improving education and health care, protecting Social Security and creating new jobs.

Wolfe has run a scrappy grass-roots campaign, concentrated on getting Republican voters out to vote.

Wolfe would like to eliminate the federal income tax and replace it with a national sales tax. He is pro-life and is endorsed by the National Rifle Association.

He has attacked Rockefeller for helping to block President Bush’s judicial nominees and supporting environmental measures that Wolfe argues would harm the state’s coal industry.

Rockefeller, a three-term incumbent, took 77 percent of the vote when he last ran for reelection in 1996. But Wolfe points to George W. Bush’s narrow victory in the state in 2000 as evidence that he can win.