Listen to the Man who will Beat Chris Shays (CT-04)

Attention!  While Clinton's desperate attempts to prolong the presidential primary may be interesting, you may remember that there are all these other races that will determine whom our nominee will be working with in the Congress.

And if you stretch your mind back to 2006, you will remember that one of our biggest targets was Chris Shays in CT-04.  Shays is the last of a dying breed: the New England Republican.  In fact, he's the only one left in the House.  In 2006, he beat our Democratic candidate Diane Ferrell in an incredibly tight race.  This year, Jim Himes will be the Democrat to give Shays and New England Republicans the knockout punch.  Best of all, you can listen to me and clammyc interview Jim live at 3pmPST/6pmEST today on BlogTalkRadio!

Why so desperate to get rid of Shays, you ask?  Well, aside from the fact that he's a Republican, Shays is simply out of touch with the people of Connecticut and with the majority of Americans.  Chris Shays believes it was a mistake to lower the voting age to 18.  He supports torturing prisoners.  He has been a roadblock to accountability for the Bush Administration in his position on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.  In an episode hilariously savaged by our own Hunter here, he famously called the torture at Abu Ghraib a sex ring and "more about pornography than torture."  And there's much more where that came from.  The guy has got to be removed from his position in the House and prevented from letting his extreme views get in the way of the next Democratic Administration.

Jim Himes, on the other hand, is exactly the sort of Democrat we need to be Obama's ally in the Congress.  Jim is a longtime community leader, non-profit executive and Democratic activist who has used his successes in the business world to leverage non-profit assistance for thousands of disadvantaged people around Connecticut with low-cost housing, tax preparation and other services.  His key issues from universal health coverage to restoring the Constitution to responsibly withdrawing troops from Iraq are everything a progressive activist could want on a candidate.

And he can win.  The district is prime territory for a Democratic pickup, and Jim will be getting help from the DCCC by being on its highly selective Red to Blue list.

To hear more today from Jim in his own words, tune in today to listen to our show.  Better yet, please consider taking the time to donate on Jim's ActBlue page if you have any spare change burning a hole in your pocket!

And if you're interested in hearing other interviews with great progressive candidates, click on the links below!

• Ron Shepston (CA-42) - The diary about Ron is here.  The link to his interview can be found here.
• Betsy Markey (CO-4) - The diary about Betsy is here.  The link to her interview can be found here
• Gilda Reed (LA-1) - the diary about Gilda is here. The link to her interview can be found here.
• John Laesch (IL-14) - the diary about John is here.  The link to his interview can be found here.
• Dennis Shulman (NJ-5) - the diary about Dennis is here.  The link to his interview can be found here.  
• Barry Welsh (IN-6) - the diary about Barry is here.  The link to his interview can be found here.
• Charlie Brown (CA-4) - the diary about Charlie is here.  The link to his interview can be found here.
• Mark Schauer (MI-7) - the diary about Mark is here.  The link to his interview can be found here.
• Heather Ryan (KY-1) -the diary about Heather is here.  The link to her interview can be found here.

We hope you have the chance to listen live; if not, we will be posting the interview at Heading Left, which is BlogTalkRadio’s official website for progressive internet radio and podcasts.