 New London, Norwich, and the students from the University of Connecticut in Storrs consistently vote for Democrats in overwhelming margins.Former Republican strongholds along the coast and in the wealthier Hartford suburbs have been trending Democratic recently as the GOP has become increasingly conservative and regional, although most voters here have little difficulty differentiating between the national party and local moderate Republicans.In 2006, former Democratic state representative Joe Courtney of Vernon defeated popular incumbent Republican Rob Simmons by a razor-thin margin of 83 votes.