When First Selectman Rudy Marconi announced that he wanted to be governor earlier this month, he traveled throughout the state publicizing it.

 "I have formed an exploratory committee to consider pursuing the state's highest office," he explained in a video on the Web site devoted to the cause, Marconi for Connecticut.

He did this because he needed to follow the steps enabling him to qualify for public financing if he hoped to fund any run for statewide office, and the exploratory committee begins the process, Marconi added in an interview. He chose his words carefully to specify that he is exploring a run and not actually running, because state campaign finance laws divide the two statuses into distinct categories.

For Marconi's exploration to become a publicly-financed candidacy, there are a series of steps that will take months before he would be the Democrat on the November 2010 gubernatorial ballot seeking to beat the Republican listed there, probably incumbent M. Jodi Rell.

Forming an exploratory committee is a first step that allows Marconi to raise funds to decide on a candidacy's feasibility while beginning to accept the donations needed to qualify for public campaign financing in Connecticut.

Members of Marconi's exploratory committee include Dave Goldenberg, Gerri Lewis, Mark Robinson, Roger Garbo and Bill Markus. All are Ridgefield residents.

To get public financing to run as a candidate in the Democratic primary race for governor, Marconi's exploratory committee needs to raise at least $250,000, which must come from a minimum of 2,500 donors. And all those donations must be in amounts that fall between $5 and $100, said Goldenberg, the exploratory committee's communications coordinator.

The committee can accept up to $375 from any given donor. But amounts more than $100 don't count toward qualifying for state funds, he said.

Then, with $250,000 in donations, Marconi would still need to gain support of 15 percent of the delegates attending the Democratic nominating convention in May 2010 before he would become a candidate in the Democratic primary for governor.

"Once we raise the targeted number of qualifying contributions, we will be eligible for public financing if we qualify for the primary," Goldenberg said.

If Marconi qualifies for funding and to run in the primary, he will get a matching grant from the state that will give him a total of about $1.25 million to campaign against all other Democrats seeking the job who also garnered sufficient delegate support to decide who will represent the Democrats on election day.

And while Marconi has been first selectman of Ridgefield for the past decade, most of his likely opponents for the candidacy—currently Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, state Sen. Gary LeBeau, D-East Hartford and former House Speaker James Amann, who already declared his candidacy—have statewide political experience on their resumes, giving Marconi stiff competition.

Still, he is busily exploring the possibility of running, seeking to remedy what he sees are problems with how government is run at the state level.

"We need the state to begin taking care of our cities and towns, and I don't see that at all," he said.