Blumenthal Eases In

WASHINGTON--Democrat Richard Blumenthal is stepping out slowly and carefully in his new role as Connecticut's junior Senator.

He hasn't appeared at any Capitol Hill press conferences yet. He's still mulling over his maiden Senate floor speech and deciding what his first piece of legislation should focus on. And he spent the first Senate recess on a "listening tour" of Connecticut, taking the electorate's temperature on a range of issues.

Asked if he was tiptoeing into his new role, Blumenthal didn't disagree, although he did note that he's been in office all of four weeks.

"My approach is the same as it was as attorney general, where there was a learning curve," Blumenthal said.

"Very realistically, a certain knowledge level and experience and time in grade is important in this place," he said. So his focus right now is "just to work hard every day [and] try to learn as much as I can, as quickly as I can."

"And," he added, "I'm establishing relationships before I do a lot of public stuff."

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