Lamont officially in governor's race

Hartford, Conn. (WTNH) - The businessman from Greenwich has made it official. Ned Lamont is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor of Connecticut.

In his announcement, Lamont said he will be a pro-growth, pro-business outsider who will challenge the establishment in solving the budget crisis.

"We do have a revenue problem but it's a revenue problem that's not going to be solved with more taxes. It's a revenue problem that's not going to be solved with more taxes, it's a revenue problem that's going to be solved with more tax payers," he said.

But moments after his speech, he responded to a reporter saying, "I don't think, Ted, we've earned the right, at this point, to raise people's taxes, you got to convince the taxpayers we've done everything we can on the spending side."

And he finally came off the fence about spending his own money to win the governorship.

"I'm gonna go out there to win, I'll be opting out of the public financing, the stakes are just too high," Lamont said.

One of his Republican opponents, another Greenwich millionaire, Tom Foley, also opted out of the voluntary public financing system that limits how much candidates can raise and spend.

Many Democrats on hand for the announcement also backed Lamont in his 2006 Senate bid against Joe Lieberman.

"I think Ned has the mental capacity to deal with those issues with courage and even deal with them at his own harm," said Peter Kelly, former Democratic National Committee Finance Chairman.

"What Ned displayed for me in 2005 and 2006 was he had the courage to take on the establishment," said Gary Collins of Portland.

"I think Ned is willing to take on the risks that a good leader needs to take on to turn things around," said Carl Feen of New Haven.

There could be as many as four candidates in the Democratic primary on August 10.