Hello, Daily Kos!

Today is the last day of the quarter, and as you can imagine, things are hectic in the office here in Norwalk as we work to beat the 2nd quarter FEC deadline at midnight tonight.

But I wanted to make sure to take a few minutes today to thank the Daily Kos community so much for your support this quarter. Over 430 of you have contributed to our campaign through the Orange to Blue ActBlue page. All of us here at the campaign have been energized by your support, and you should know that your enthusiasm online has been matched on the ground in Connecticut.

Despite the hot and humid weather, hundreds of supporters joined Orange-to-Blue candidate Jim Himes yesterday for all or part of the 22-mile walk across the Fourth Congressional district from Greenwich to Bridgeport. Here are some more of the sights and sounds of the day (see part 1 here) - including a few words from DFA Chair Jim Dean at the stop in Fairfield:

Elected officials, bloggers, and reporters all joined the walk for stretches as well. The Greenwich Time was along for the start of the walk:

(I am the Online Communications Director for Jim Himes for Congress.)

Here in Connecticut, we're just about halfway through with Orange-to-Blue candidate Jim Himes' day-long, 22-mile, "Walk in a New Direction" from Greenwich to Bridgeport, and I just popped in our Norwalk office to upload some sights and sounds. Here's Jim at a stop this morning talking about why we're all walking 22 miles in the blazing sun today:

Contribute here to help us reach our goal of $22,000 online before the end of the quarter Monday night!

Some people know how to to put the "fun" in "fundraiser."  Orange to Blue candidateJim Himes held an event at a minor-league ballpark in CT-04 to raise a few dollars and raise his visibility in the district.  I thought it was a great idea and a great excuse to bring my 2-year-old out to a game.

Just days after the Alaska AFL-CIO endorsed Orange to Blue candidate Mark Begich, fellow Orange to Blue candidate Jim Himes has been endorsed by the Connecticut AFL-CIO:

"Jim really understands the issues facing working families," said James Parent, Connecticut State Council of Machinists President and AFL-CIO Vice President. "Jim knows that we need to create good jobs and fight for the manufacturing jobs that we still have, to find real answers on healthcare and education, and to get out of Iraq. I'm convinced Jim will be a tremendous ally for working families, and we look forward to doing all we can to get him elected."

Connecticut's union density is lower than Alaska's, but this is an especially significant endorsement given his opponent. As DavidNYC's introductory post on Himes laid out, a number of Democrats and progressive groups have been giving protective cover to Republican incumbent Chris Shays. The League of Conservation Voters and the Human Rights Campaign have endorsed Shays. They would argue that he's a moderate Republican -- but should an LCV-endorsed candidate turn around and support coastal oil drilling? What kind of moderation is that?

The LCV and HRC might have gotten played on this one thanks to their desire to appear non-partisan damaging the causes they exist to support, but the Connecticut AFL-CIO obviously knows better and won't be supporting someone like Shays just because he only pisses on them 57% of the time (PDF) instead of 90% of the time.

Jim Himes is fighting a tough battle to take out the last House Republican in New England, and unfortunately, he's having to fight against people who should be on his side. But organized labor has his back, and, through the Orange to Blue list, so can you.

Race tracker wiki: CT-04

In the last couple days, there have been several posts across the blogosphere citing what various candidates running for Congress have said on FISA and retroactive immunity for the telecoms.  But so far, it's been all over the map.  I'll try to corral all their statements into this diary, so you can see who the "good guys" are.

First, let's start off with the current House and Senate members who voted against this bill.  They do deserve credit, as it's their jobs on the line.

Follow me below the fold to see the dozens of Democratic challengers who are standing up for the Constitution, and are against this FISA bill and retroactive immunity.

my opinion on FISA, impeachment, and other issues, and the oppurtunities we have in this election cycle.

Orange to Blue candidate Jim Himes, running against Chris Shays, has this to say on FISA:

"In Congress, I will always stand up for the fundamental American belief that no man, and no corporation, is above the law. As always, this is a matter for the courts to decide-- not for Congress, and absolutely not for the same Bush Administration who may have violated the law in the first place. It is great to see so many American citizens of all backgrounds coming together to stand up for the rule of law and in opposition to retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies who may have illegally spied on American citizens at the Bush Administration's request. I am disappointed that Chris Shays and so many others continue to stand with President Bush by refusing to stand up for this most fundamental of American principles."

Update: Keep in mind Himes is one of our Orange to Blue candidates and could use some love on this day when we realize just how badly we want not only more, but better, Democrats. SusanG

Race tracker wiki: CT-04

As DavidNYC noted in his Orange-to-Blue endorsement post of Jim Himes yesterday, Chris Shays has a history of pretending to be a "moderate" while voting again and again for Bush's policies.

This morning, Shays joined many in both parties in Congress by standing with Bush again on the FISA "compromise".

In fact, Chris Shays has been busy doing his best impersonation of a Blue Dog all week, voting for the war supplemental without timelines that passed yesterday before voting for the for the disastrous FISA bill that passed today.

In March of 2006, political newcomer Ned Lamont jumped into an unlikely race against the execrable Sen. Joe Lieberman. The early portents were not promising: a Quinnipiac poll taken the prior month showed Lieberman with an almost preposterous 68-13 lead. With time enough for only a five-month sprint to the primary, few outside the netroots thought there was any hope here. For the local politicians who made up Connecticut's electoral establishment, there was every reason to stick with the safe horse.

But among the bold few dissenters was a Democratic Town Chair and affordable housing executive named Jim Himes. Just weeks after Lamont's kickoff, when there was little reason to doubt that February Q-Poll, Himes took a stand and endorsed Lamont. Even more impressively, he convinced his fellow town committee members to join him - in total, sixteen went with Lamont, and not one backed Lieberman. Himes's early leadership helped pave the way for other delegates to the crucial May state convention to declare their support for Lamont.

Ultimately, Lamont won more than double the 15% he needed at the convention to secure a spot on the ballot, and then of course went on to shock Joe Lieberman and the political world with a stunning primary victory that August. And at that point, Democratic endorsements for Lamont flooded in.

But during that cold month of March right at the beginning, the easy choice for a guy like Jim Himes - or anyone in Connecticut politics, really - would have been to stay quiet. Crossing the Lieberman juggernaut meant you were probably consigning yourself to political purgatory once the junior Senator inevitably steamrolled in the primary. Yet Himes was not willing to remain silent. He knew that he had to take action against Joe Lieberman's support for eternal war in Iraq and ceaseless attacks on what were, at the time, still his fellow Democrats. Standing up for the party and standing strong against a disastrous war were more important to Himes than any personal political ambitions.

Jim Himes, in other words, acted like a progressive's progressive. I'm not sure you could ask for more. But of course, there is more - plenty of it. He supports virtually the whole panoply of core progressive issues: universal healthcare, Iraq withdrawal "beginning tomorrow," net neutrality, restoring habeas corpus, protecting Social Security, safeguarding reproductive freedom... and that's just for starters. He's also fluent in Spanish, having lived his first ten years in Peru and Columbia, and left a successfull Wall Street career to join a non-profit devoted to building affordable housing.

So when it comes to our mantra of "better Democrats," you can see how Himes fits the bill perfectly, and that's why we're proud to welcome him to Orange to Blue. Those of you who have followed this campaign a bit, though, might be wondering why we're getting involved with a top-tier race like this one, when we've usually stuck to more under-the-radar affairs. It's a fair question, but it has a very good answer.

The maddening truth is that certain fellow Democrats and ostensibly left-wing groups have been undermining Jim Himes - the epitome of a true-blue, bona fide movement progressive - at every turn. It's as baffling as it is dismaying. Yet there is still a very dysfunctional segment of the party which insists on cozying up to so-called "moderates" like Chris Shays, the Republican incumbent in CT-04. Here's just a partial list:

• The League of Conservation Voters just endorsed Shays - and didn't even let Himes fill out their questionnaire. Shays's anomalous voting record aside, does the LCV seriously want the Republicans back in charge?


• Democratic Rep. Jim Langevin co-sponsored a healthcare bill with Shays - one that has zero chance of passing, but allows Shays to claim the mantle of "bipartisanship" and look good on an important issue.


• Alleged Democrat Harold Ford came to Connecticut and declared: "There is not a better Congressman in Washington than Chris Shays." Yeesh.


• While the rest of Connecticut's House delegation earns straight As, Citizens for Global Solutions inflated Shays' weak B- grade to a B+ through "extra credit" - this despite his vote for the odious Military Commissions Act.


• The Human Rights Campaign, whose mission it is to support GLBT equality, also endorsed Shays. Once again, there's just no debate as to which party cares about HRC's goals - and Chris Shays ain't a member of it. (Is this starting to sound familiar?)


• And in perhaps the biggest betrayal of all, Rep. Lynne Woolsey - a co-chair of the Progressive Caucus - also co-sponsored another no-hope bill with Shays, this time on Iraq. Needless to say, Iraq is a huge vulnerability for Shays, and Woosley, who should be eager to welcome more progressives into the caucus, is doing her best to shut the door on one.

Just as Jim Himes did at the very start of Ned Lamont's campaign way back when, it's our duty to take a stand here. We need to show what our values are, what it means to be a movement progressive. When other would-be allies turn their backs on a candidate like Himes, we need to fill that void. And when people who should be our partners instead side with our adversaries, we need to demonstrate once and for all that we no longer accept this kind of destructive politics of the past.

I think Jim Himes could one day be a real progressive leader in Congress. To get there, though, he'll need all the help he can get, including the support of progressives like us. And once he is there, we'll want him to know that he has a broad, solid group of friends he can count on. So please give to Jim Himes and the other Orange to Blue candidates, and help us reach our goal of 1,000 donors before the end of the quarter on June 30th.

Update: Despite that League of Conservation Voters endorsement, Shays just came out in support of coastal drilling for oil.  This is yet another example of how too many groups that should be supporting Jim Himes are supporting someone who's nowhere near as good as Jim Himes, and why he needs our support.  

Race tracker wiki: CT-04

Note:  This is a significantly expanded version of a comment I made on another diary; in other words, it's not just deja vu.  

It's been a shame to see Chris Shays' metamorphosis over the years from Weicker-like independent liberal Republican to typical GOP hawk (pronounced "hack"), as for the most part his principal identification with the administration has been on the war and homeland security issues, while remaining semi-independent on others, though to a lessening degree over time.  

Unfortunately, those are the ones that matter, and the fact that Shays
has always been too moderate to be acceptable to the core of the GOP anyway does not bode well for his own party's support this November, despite the fact that this district has voted Democratic only seven times since 1895.

We're off to the races in Connecticut, with one red-hot House race in the Fourth District, and two solid freshman Dems looking to consolidate their support in the Second and Fifth Districts. The GOP has nominated their slate of candidates, and are ready to start the official campaign.

CT-02: Democrat "Landslide Joe" Courtney won election last year in one of the narrowest races in the country. Courtney edged Republican Rob Simmons by just 83 votes, a margin which is actually not unusual for the district. Former Representative Sam Gejdenson won reelection in 1994 by just 21 votes, and lost his seat to Simmons in 2002 by under 2,000 votes.

Courtney is a solid Democrat on national issues, and an outspoken opponent of the Iraq War. The district leans strongly Democratic at the presidential level (Gore won it by 14 points, and Kerry by 10), but it has placed a heavy emphasis in recent years on electing Representatives with the ability to deliver for the district, most particularly with regard to the submarine manufacturing base in Groton. The sub base is the district's largest employer, and Gejdenson lost in 2000 amid rumors of the base closing.

With the prominence of the submarine base in mind, the GOP recruited the former base commander, Captain Sean Sullivan, as their candidate. While this sounded promising for the Republicans initially (as much as any candidate would in a D+7.6 district in a Democratic year), the highly touted Sullivan has proven to be a fundraising dud. He has just over $100K on hand (and that number isn't increasing very quickly, as he pulled in a grand total of $3,000 in three weeks in April).

Courtney, meanwhile, has over $1.2 million on hand to go with a fine record for his first term in Congress. Rob Simmons had some nice words for our man Joe:

Former Republican Rep. Rob Simmons, who in 2006 lost narrowly to Courtney, the one-time Vernon town attorney, belittled his former opponent.

"If John McCain becomes the next president, who do you think he'll turn to for advice in Congress?" he asked Republicans gathered in Willimantic. "A town attorney from Vernon or a decorated Navy captain with more than 20 years of distinguished service?"

Yeah, well...that ain't happening.

CT-04: For the third year in a row, CT-04 is shaping up to be one of the hottest races in the country. Republican incumbent Christopher Shays, who narrowly won reelection with 52% in both 2004 and 2006, is the last Republican Representative from New England left in Congress. After spirited challenges the last two cycles from Diane Farrell, Shays is now challenger by Democrat Jim Himes.

Himes, 41, is a former Goldman Sachs vice president and Rhodes Scholar. He has proven to be a terrific fundraiser, with over $1.1 million cash-on-hand as of last filing. By comparison, 20-year incumbent Shays has roughly $30,000 more in the bank than Himes. Himes is also an early addition to the DCCC's Red to Blue list.

Shays has a long-standing reputation as a moderate, and he's certainly proven to be a survivor in this Democratic-leaning Bridgeport-based district. The Fourth was Lieberman country in 2006, which may well have helped Shays win reelection that year. Still, Himes is a truly formidable candidate, and even after the close calls of the last two cycles, Shays may yet be in for the race of his life.

CT-05: By PVI, the Fifth is Connecticut's least Democratic district (D+3.7). Republican Nancy Johnson represented the area for 24 years until 2006, when she was defeated by Democrat Chris Murphy.

Murphy, 34, has had a remarkable record of political success, particularly for such a young guy. Fresh out of college at 22, he managed the campaign of Democrat Charlotte Koskoff, who ran against Johnson in 1996 and came within one point of unseating her. After graduating from law school, Murphy then defeated a 14-year incumbent to win a seat in the State House, then captured a Republican-held seat in the State Senate before defeating Johnson quite badly in 2006, winning by 12 points after  a series of nasty attacks by the Johnson campaign. Since his election, Murphy has proven to be a popular Congressman and an excellent fundraiser, currently sitting on a $1.5 million war chest.

The Republicans hope to take this seat back with State Senator David Cappiello, who has been forced to run away from his unpopular president in this Dem-leaning district. Needless to say, that hasn't gone over especially well with his based (though he and Bush appear to be getting on fine, as Bush held a fundraiser for Cappiello at Henry Kissinger's house a few weeks ago).

It appears that the line of attack will be to paint Murphy as a DC insider who is soft on terrorism-indeed, it appears that that is already what they're doing. As DemFromCT notes, however, it's unlikely to work:

This is a winning strategery for McCain and Republicans... why? It's not 2002 any more. The inept Republican fear campaign played badly for Nancy Johnson in 2006 and Rudy Giuliani in 2008. Why would it work better now?

Alas, it's going to take a Democratic win in November to purge the system of the idea that Republican fear and smear still work. Chalk that up to yet another reason to vote Democratic.

Hear, hear.

The Republicans are dreaming big about CT-05, but I don't think this is the year they're going to stop Chris Murphy's meteoric rise.

Race tracker wiki: CT-02 CT-04 CT-05

(Cross-posted from My Left Nutmeg.)

Yesterday afternoon, in accepting his nomination for a potential 12th term representing the Fourth Congressional District of Connecticut, Chris Shays sounded a favorite attack theme of his against the Democratic party:

Shays had harsher words for Democrats. Liberal activists, he said are even more divisive.

"Though Democrats speak urgently of the challenges we face, their leaders obstruct and delay," he said.

Mr. Shays, things are just not going that  well in Iraq.

(crossposted at myleftnutmeg.com)

This is the oped I authored that appeared last week in Greenwich Citizen (sorry, but it's not been placed online):

"Lord, I want a timeline!", Republican Congressman Chris Shays blurted out toward the end of a rambling speech on the floor of the House early this month.  But does Mr. Shays really want to establish a firm timeline for the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq?  If one looks closely at his pronouncements on the Iraq War, the answer is: "doubtful."  

It's hard cutting through the cacaphony of candidate diaries on here right now, but if you actually made it here, the bloggers in Connecticut sure could use your help fighting back against a Bush fundraiser!

The details, in the form of an email that we are circulating are below.

Help offset President Bush's fundraiser against freshman Chris Murphy and challenger Jim Himes.  Donate today!

Dear SNAP Supporters:

New York Fundraiser

Gloria Steinem, Felice Gaer & Henryk Baran, Gail Robinson & Bill Sweet, Robert Rifkind, Robert Fertik, Bruce & Fredda Vladeck, Blanche W. Cook, and Ned Lamont join

Councilwoman Gale Brewer and Cal Brewer

in inviting you to a reception in their home in support of

Students for a New American Politics PAC
to help elect the progressive leaders of today while training those of the future.

Thursday, May 1st
6pm-8pm

29 West 95th Street
New York, NY

To RSVP please email Anna Robinson-Sweet at anna.robinson-sweet@snappac.org or contact her by phone at 646-468-6084

Help offset President Bush's fundraiser against freshman Chris Murphy and challenger Jim Himes.  Donate today!

This Friday, George W. Bush is coming to Henry Kissinger's house in Kent, Connecticut for an exclusive, $1000 a head ($10,000 for a snapshot with the President!) fundraiser for Republican Challenger David Cappiello (running against Democratic Freshman Representative Chris Murphy) in Connecticut's 5th Congressional District.