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.

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.

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!

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.

Reports are just starting to come in at the Iraq Moratorium website on Moratorium Day #8, just two days ago. The folks in rural Cornwall, CT are still polishing their report on their Third Friday program which was addressed by a Republican State Senator, but they wanted me to pull the collective DKos coattail to another bit of news.

It appears that President George W. Bush will be holding a fundraiser in Kent, CT, the posher town to Cornwall's immediate south on this coming Friday. "Kent? I never heard of Kent. Why Kent?" I hear you ask. Because Kent is the home of the Bush bash's host, none other than Henry Kissinger!

So if you are a lurking Republican, by all means don't settle for the thousand buck tab to get in the door. For a mere ten large, you can get your photo taken with two generations of war criminals, world class war criminals I think you'd have to call them. And it all goes to help some bozo named David Cappiello, who is trying to win back CT 05 from the Democrats, in the person or first term Representative Chris Murphy.

I had my first introduction to the Hilltop Brigade, a grassroots organization founded in Connecticut by Stephanie and Penelope, a couple of constituents of Rosa DeLauro (D-CT03). The organization was actually developed, with Congresswoman DeLauro's blessing, to help put volunteers in the streets and knocking on doors. But more than that, it was so 'safe' districts, such as DeLauro's, could essentially 'lend' volunteers to districts that had closer races.

I live in CT, and I've been bombarded with those *#@% Defense of Democracies ads for both Chris Murphy and Joe Courtney. And, quite frankly, I've had enough of it.

I was actually planning to write a LTE about the hypocrisy of McCain, but I figure that, given the airtime this ad is getting--an average of once every half-hour, if not more--that it might be a good idea to send this one first.

I have the letter below the fold. Any advice you can give on improving this, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Disclaimer: I am the Online Outreach Director for SNAPPAC

Students for a New American Politics PAC is a student organization founded at Yale University in the aftermath of the 2004 election. The lesson that emerged from those disappointing results was that the only way to bring about a progressive majority would be to actively involve a new generation of voters to fundamentally change the political landscape in America. With the goal of critically engaging students in the emergence of a progressive majority, SNAPPAC began in the spring of 2005 as a politically action committee focused on providing financial assistance for students to actively work on progressive campaigns across the country. This effort not only helps cash-strapped campaigns by providing critical and talented campaign staff, but also allows students to gain the experience necessary to run future progressive campaigns.

Connecticut GOP State Senator David Cappiello, a star GOP recruit who is trying to take on Freshman Dem. Rep. Chris Murphy, lists his full-time occupation as a Mortgage Loan Officer for Danbury-based "Charter Funding."

Things get very murky very quick.

Congressman Chris Murphy (D), CT -05 on the stem cell veto:

"The President's veto of legislation that could potentially hold the key to curing debilitating or life-threatening diseases is dumbfounding.  Once again, just like with his stay-the-course policy in Iraq, the President is stubbornly defying the will of the American people.

"Nothing is more basic and important than our health, and I came to Washington to work with people from across the country and across the political spectrum to fix our broken health care system.  We passed the stem cell bill for the millions of Americans who could benefit from a federal commitment to this type of research, and its passage was one of the most meaningful moments in my months in Congress.  

"But today, the President chose to deny access to medically justifiable and ethical stem cell research for millions of Americans in search of a cure.  Lost in the President's ideological reasons for vetoing this bill is the fact that the House, the Senate, and the American people simply want him to allow the use of embryos that would be thrown away if they weren't used for medical research.  

"The push for federal investment in stem cell research will not end with the stroke of his veto pen.  In the coming weeks and months, I will work to keep this issue at the forefront of the debate in Washington."

Congressman Michael Castle (R) , DE - At Large:

``I consider this to be an overwhelming error'' on Bush's part, Republican Representative Michael Castle of Delaware said at a press conference in Washington [yesterday]. "I consider this to be flat-out wrong because of the significance of what can be done with this research.

Stem cells are not an issue that will go away. There's been a consistent majority in favor of stem cell research and easing restrictions on the research. We know there's a bipartisan majority interested in seeing this go forward. Whereas the politics of stem cells are a little murky now (the override vote may well fall short as predicted), in 2008 this will be a consensus item that will put the GOP further out of the American mainstream in the name of ideology.

BarbinMD's piece earlier needs to be supplemented with congressional voices, who in this case are speaking for the people they represent. This is a mainstream, majority viewpoint and the WH is on the wrong side of the issue. But it will be the voters that drive that point home, and it will be the voters that have the last word.

I am late to reviewing the FP diary  by DemfromCt regarding the Connecticut delegation's stand (sans Chris Shays) regarding the capitulation on the appropriation bill for the Iraq war.

I am a constituent of Chris Murphy and was naturally ecstatic that he is hi-lighted as a Freshman who is infusing new blood into a static and often repugnant House of Representatives.

I will admit I voted for Chris primarily as an opposition vote to Nancy Johnson who had become a cheerleader for both Bush and Big Pharma.  I'm embarassed to say I didn't know a hell of a lot about Chris Murphy when I went into the voting booth

Do you want to know why you elected new blood to the Congress? Because the freshmen understand why they are there and how to address the issues.

Democrat Chris Murphy, CT-05 (via press release):

"This bill is two inches away from giving a blank check to the President for this war, and I will not support it because it continues our commitment with no plan to redeploy our troops out of the civil war in Iraq.

"People in Connecticut and across the country overwhelmingly support redeploying our troops out of Iraq, yet this message falls on deaf ears in the Bush Administration.  This bill may pass today, and the President may sign it, but I cannot support it.  I was sent here to bring this war to a close, and this bill doesn't do that."

That's not so hard, is it?

Update [2007-5-24 13:49:13 by DemFromCT]:: That's freshmen, pleural plural. Via press release:

Members of the Connecticut Democratic Congressional Delegation, Reps. Rosa DeLauro, John Larson, Joe Courtney and Chris Murphy, released the following statement regarding their unified stance on today's vote on the Iraq Supplemental:

"Today, we will vote the will of our constituents in Connecticut and the American people - voting against a measure that does not hold this Administration accountable for its failed policy in Iraq or set a new direction.  We cannot in good conscience support a bill that keeps our troops in the middle of a bloody and chaotic civil war with no exit strategy and no timeline for redeploying our troops.  

I am proud of the CT Dems today. Chris Shays? Not so much.

A large group of Freshman Democrats know that one of they keys to their election in 2006 was changing the meaning of "business-as-usual" on Capitol Hill, whether that meant ending the Bush rubberstamp on Iraq or how Congress conducts itself. While a big chunk of the old-timers is resisting ethics reform, the Freshman are pushing a new effort:

U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy spearheaded an effort by freshman representatives Wednesday to call for an independent and bipartisan ethics panel to investigate complaints against lawmakers.

"Clearly the Ethics Committee that Congress has today doesn't work," said Murphy, D-5th Dist. "The process that's in place right now requires congressional members to investigate their friends and colleagues.

"It's time for a change. The voters sent me here to drain down the swamp that's become Washington, D.C. That's what I intend to do."

The proposal is meeting significant resistance in the caucus. Despite that, Murphy and his colleagues including Zack Space, Baron Hill, Paul Hodes, and Betty Sutton along with a dozen or so others, are pushing the Special Task Force on Ethics Enforcement to consider their proposal. The task force was set up to determine how Congress could police its own more effectively after the travesty of Bob Ney, in which the existing House Ethics Committee did nothing.

The Freshman proposal would create a wholly independent, bipartisan panel comprised of members of the public. Or, you know, consitutents. It woud vet, initiate, and conduct investigations. This push to have an external, independent review board should be strongly considered by the task force. While the majority of Members of Congress are honest and ethical, their integrity is hugely sullied by a bad few. The Ney and Foley sagas aren't the first time that a bad few, like Tom DeLay, Dennis Hastert, and Doc Hastings were in a position to scuttle investigations, and it won't be the last.

Last fall, we voted for real reform, for transparency, and for change. No one understands that better than the Freshman class that swept the Congress back to a Democratic majority. The leadership needs to recognize that and to give them a seat at the table in shaping reform.

I woke up Wednesday morning just like any other day at around 5 am, stumbled downstairs and poured myself a cup of coffee. Then, like any normal morning, I grabbed my MacBook and went outside to read my mail, smoke, and wake the hell up.

I was greeted with more than a thousand message in my inbox.

As an individual who worked for the Lamont campaign and was very much saddened by the election results this past November, this tremendous experience made me realize not only how fortunate we are as American citizens to have such a brave individual in Ned Lamont(and other democratic candidates) to act so boldly by speaking out against our current system of government that was/is leading our nation in the wrong direction.

But, more importantly, the experience of the 2006 elections showed me how many millions of progressives (like myself) across the country who visit Daily Kos and other similar blogs wanted a critical say in how our own systematically-based government was going to take shape in the near future.

I am very proud to be part of a newly increasingly growing democratic movement where progressive and populist candidates are beginning to create a more representative style of people-powered politics in Washington, D.C.  

Incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi continues her campaign to boost the profiles of newly elected Dems (traditionally the most vulnerable in their next elections) and the 30-Something set.

The Hill:

Pelosi also announced several new members to the coveted Appropriations panel, including Rep.-elect Ciro Rodriguez (Texas) who won a runoff against Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-Texas). Others named to the spending panel are: Reps. Ben Chandler (Ky.), Michael Honda (Calif.), Barbara Lee (Calif.), Betty McCollum (Minn.), Tim Ryan (Ohio), C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger (Md.), Adam Schiff (Calif.), Tom Udall (N.M.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.).

Freshman almost never score seats on Approps. Incoming Republicans changed that, following their 1994 "revolution," but Dems haven't yet had the chance to adopt that strategy. [UPDATE: And they still haven't. Rodriguez is, at best, a "red shirt" freshman -- i.e., not one at all. He previously served from 1997 through 2004, albeit in a different district.]  Seating Rodriguez there puts him in a strong position to take care of business at home, and solidify his hold on the seat.

Note, too, that Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Tim Ryan did in fact score both Steering & Policy and Approps. Wasserman Schultz also takes over a Chief Deputy Whip spot.

Do not gaze directly at Debbie Wasserman Schultz! If you find yourself between her and wherever she's going, do not attempt to flee! Throw yourself to the ground and remain motionless, and she may spare you!

Other 30-Something standouts rumored to be under consideration for exclusive committees who've now made it official: Kenrick Meek and Artur Davis, both to Ways & Means.

Note, too, netroots favorite Paul Hodes of New Hampshire, who'll be enjoying a ringside seat on Henry Waxman's Government Reform Committee, along with Giant Killer Chris Murphy of Connecticut.

Elsewhere in the stratosphere, check out these rising stars:

The incoming Speaker said she will recommend that Rep.-elects Kathy Castor (Fla.), Betty Sutton (Ohio) and Peter Welch (Vt.) be given seats on the Rules Committee.

The Rules Committee Members, as those of you who've become familiar with our friend Louise Slaughter know, are the guys with their hands on all the strings. They decide what amendments get to the floor, what the rules of debate are, and just about everything else surrounding the terms under which votes in the House are cast. You have got to be absolutely rock-solid to make it to the Rules Committee, so this is a big vote of confidence in Castor, Sutton and Welch.

Being "rock-solid," of course, has two meanings. First, they're going to be rock-solid in their support of the leadership, which has entrusted them with these influential positions. But more than being a dependable vote, they've got to have a knack for the process, and will almost always be people who've got an understanding of procedure. Castor, the daughter of Florida politico Betty Castor, comes from a political family like the Speaker herself. Sutton and Welch are both former state legislators, Welch being the immediate past president of the Vermont State Senate.

It should also be noted that Sutton and Welch replace the dependably progressive Sherrod Brown and Bernie Sanders, respectively, each of whom were fixtures in their districts before moving up to the Senate. Any questions at home about where the new kids will fit in in the new House ought to be settled with these appointments. Their Rules Committee seats will keep them out of the spotlight on big time bills, but they'll be on C-SPAN quite a bit managing debate on the rules (every bill that comes to the floor under normal circumstances -- or "regular order" -- comes with its own, customized rule setting the terms of debate), and will be the sort of behind-the-scenes fixers that will make appropriators and other legislative powerhouses want to make sure their districts are taken care of.

Last but not least in committee news, there's Rep. William Jefferson, returned to Congress by the folks back home in New Orleans. Jefferson won't be returning to the prestigious and powerful Ways & Means Committee, though. But neither will he be sitting on his hands. Speaker Pelosi's got to respect the will of his constituents, who had to have known what they were buying into when they sent him back to Washington. So pending any further developments with his case, Jefferson will be sitting on the Small Business committee.

New York Times

Newly elected Representative Joe Donnely apparently was completely unaware of why he was in the midst of fellow newly elected congressional reps yesterday when they met with Bush in a "hi, how do ya do......we'll not call you a war criminal to your face" meet and greet session today.   In fact, it took the Child King himself to bring sense and reason to Donnely in an amazing feat of bipartisanship as Bush reached out to Joe yesterday.

Oh it's true Bush hubris on display yet again.....

Turnout was unbelievably heavy.  The pollworkers said it was heavier than 2004.

I stood with a nice guy for Murphy and a nice lady with a Lieberdouche sandwich board.

A few observations below.