Toehold in Connecticut

In two centuries of American politics, there have been only three women Governors, and all three--Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming, Miriam ("Ma") Ferguson of Texas and Lurleen Wallace of Alabama--followed in their husbands' footsteps. Congresswoman Ella Grasso, 55, of Windsor Locks, Conn., is not accustomed to following in anyone's footsteps; her husband of 32 years is a retired school principal, and the toehold she won in the statehouse in Hartford was strictly her own achievement.

Last week the 1,207 delegates at the Democratic state convention in Hartford nominated Grasso as the party's candidate for governor. She has been the leading contender in a relatively issueless race since well before she announced her candidacy last January. Two weeks ago her major rival, State Attorney General Robert Killian, gave up what looked like an increasingly hopeless fight against her. He agreed to join the ticket as nominee for lieutenant governor.

The only child of an immigrant baker, Ella Tambussi Grasso is a magna cum laude graduate of Mount Holyoke who blends Italian warmth with Yankee efficiency. An early advocate of consumerism, she worked her way up the political ladder, starting as a state legislator in 1953; she was Connecticut's secretary of state for twelve years before being elected to Congress in 1970. Grasso will face either Congressman Robert Steele or Bridgeport Mayor Nicholas Panuzio in November. The latest poll taken by Republicans shows her to be so far ahead of either candidate that the party is keeping the results secret.

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