This afternoon, with less fanfare but certainly with as much focus on dollars, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will be appearing with Congressman John Larson in Hartford to raise money for the House Democratic Caucus.

Larson is chairman of the caucus and the Number 4 person in the Pelosi leadership team. After collecting a minimum of $1,500 per donor at the posh “On 20″ at 1 State Street, Pelosi is scheduled to get in a little boccie ball with Larson and low-dollar donors in East Hartford.

There has been little press on this event and with good reason. The Pelosi led health care reform bill, which Larson and the entire Democratic delegation supported, has become a huge turd in the punchbowl for Hartford insurance and financial sectors. How and where Larson will find ready contributors from these industries is a mystery.

But, you can’t say Larson isn’t a loyal fellow or a good sport about it. Yet, on more substantive issues, Larson has shown himself to be totally clueless as Republican Ann Brickley runs a full-throated  campaign against him in the 1st Congressional district. Brickley (right photo) has been running radio ads questioning the spending habit of Larson and the Democrats.

Larson’s response, also on radio, was that his office was successful in acquiring combat medals for a Vietnam Veteran.

During a recent interview on FOX 61′s “The Real Story,” Larson couldn’t give an example of what he was doing to help Connecticut’s ailing economy except to announce, for the hundredth time, that the federal government may designate Coltville’s as a national park.

Coltsville is the former Colt factor complex, a dilapidated, semi-abandoned shell of crumbling brick, rust and broken dreams. It has been taken over by banks and is a symbol of why public-private partnerships routinely fail when private investment never surfaces.

But I am sure Pelosi will enjoy herself rolling a few balls.