Three Republican House members. WHY?

[against all enemies]

Connecticut is a pretty Democratic state, but 3 of the 5 House members are Pukes. If the House is ever to go back to Democratic control state like CT need to vote in more Democrats. Will this happen any time soon? If so who will lose?

[HillDem]

1. There all close races

Check the link, we can get them all back in 06!
http://www.ourcongress.org/race/Connecticut/

[calico1]

2. I take it you are not from CT?

Yes, there are 3 but none of them are wingnuts. Like most other Republicans in the North, they get elected because they are mostly Moderate and not wingnuts. For example, all 3 are pro choice. Kind of hard to understand if you are not from this area. But the point is they are not Delay-like Repukes. Not trying to defend them, just pointing out that most Northern Republicans could not get voted in if they were wingnuts. As for who is the most vulnerable, that would be my congressman, Simmons. The second district seems to always have the closest elections. I am hoping he can get booted out next election.

[against all enemies]

15. Sorry, I was away. But I am from Connecticut and I disagree with

you. Nancy Johnson is a Delay foot soldier, she has backed him in all important votes and her prescription drug plan is a sell out to the drug industry. Simmons also supports the Republican majority and Shayes, while seeming moderate can also be counted on in a close vote. That said, just the fact that these Republicans hold office allows Tom Delay, and George Bush to stay in power without any checks and balances. These legislators are enablers, allowing this country to go down the drain. The mere fact that many here see them as moderate does not bode well for the DEmocratic takeover of the House. If Democrats can't paint Nancy Johnson and Simmons as problems the House will stay Republican forever.

[AX10]

23. Nancy Johnson is a wing nut. She just hides it better.

[Mend]

3. How did they vote when tom delay leaned on them? I used to

live in NY and CT and understand this type of repub but rove is trying and has almost succeeded into turning this country into a one-party dictatorship: repuke executive, legislative, judiciary, and of course intimidating the press into propaganda parrots. We need all the Democrats we can get...not a square to spare, and hopefully it is not too late.

[calico1]

5. They will have to be careful. If they start

voting against abortion rights, gay rights, etc. out they go, and they know it. I want to see them all out too because on other issues that are not so personal they do go along paty lines. I suspect that being from a Moderate state they get leaned on a lot. The only one that has openly spoken against anything this administration has done is Shays, who is the most Liberal of the representatives. But I'd still like to see them all voted out, just because they agreed with anything this administrtion did and became part of the problem in doing so.

[NewJeffCT]

11. They all voted with DeLay more than 80% of the time

Howard Dean was on the radio here last week (WTIC AM 1080 with Colin McEnroe) and said that Shays voted with DeLay 82%, Simmons 85% and Johnson more than that (or, I could be mixing up Simmons & Johnson)

Simmons won 6 years ago because the liberal Dem (Sam Gejdenson) that held the seat for a good 16-20 years before him started taking the district for granted, despite having won a race by only 2 votes a few years earlier. Since that time, Simmons won a close race with a strong 3rd party candidate in it and then won again last year only 53-47, despite outspending his little known rival Jim Sullivan by 4 or 5 to 1. Simmons also got a big late push from the NRA, who blitzed local airwaves with ads for Simmons. Unfortunately, there are not many big names in the district to challenge Simmons.

Shays' district has always been one of the wealthiest in the nation - Greenwich, Westport (Martha Stewert's old stomping grounds), Weston, New Canaan, etc are all there. Shays has been the moderate Republican rep there for almost 20 years now. Before him, it was another moderate Republican in the late Stu McKinney (who died of complications related to AIDS)

Nancy Johnson cast one of the deciding votes against reprimanding Newt Gingrich several years back... no idea why she does so well in a district where Dems outnumber Republicans, but she has not had serious opposition for a while now, probably not since her district was combined with Jim Maloney's district.

[calico1]

13. I agree with you but from what I can

see from people I know that aren't real committed one way or the other is that *they* (voteres) do not see a clear difference. That is the point I was trying to make. I know there is a difference and that they (reps) vote the majority of the time with the GOP. But so far they have done a good enough job of appearing Moderate enough to get voters to elect them. The Dems need to do a better job of pointing out the differences. If Shays is the most Moderate I think Nancy Johnson is the most right wing of them, although even she is pro choice from what I know.

[JerseygirlCT]

16. She does well because her district

was combined... lots of those blue-collar types now -- "Reagan Dems" perhaps... Also, she's quite appealing to the slightly more liberal Repubs we have up here -- she does fine with the greater Hartford area well-to-do types (Not Hartford, that's Larson's territory, but I think she starts in Avon, etc?)

She comes across at home as reasonable and moderate.

But as has been pointed out, she was a foot soldier for Newt, and she's all behind DeLay so far now. I'd guess she'd be the toughest to oust of the three.

Simmons is definitely the most vulnerable. Shays had a tough race last time, and she's running against him again, yes? His only hope is to continue to buck the administration at every turn. He's got to run far and fast away from them if he wants to hold that seat. Ought to be interesting to watch.

[NewJeffCT]

17. Michelle Jacklin had a good column today on Johnson

Basically, Johnson's last several opponents have all suffered from a serious lack of funds.

[JerseygirlCT]

18. Yes, I saw that

Chris Murphy seems to be a pretty smart young guy. I was certainly impressed with his campaigning (literally door to door -- thought he was an LDS guy at first!) and he or his staff have always answered my e-mails almost immediately.

She's been pretty hard to beat, and I don't think that changes... unless people smell enough blood in the water to think someone like Murphy could just do it.

[NewJeffCT]

20. It seems like those door to door campaigns are working, though

Read earlier in the week how the small town of East Hampton basically threw out their whole town council and replaced it with 5 hard working independents.

[JerseygirlCT]

21. Hadn't seen that

but it's very interesting.

There's something to it. In some of our smaller towns, there's absolutely no reason that candidates and officials shouldn't have to actually get out and talk to people. And people do respond to that -- very well.

[NewJeffCT]

22. happened in my town, too

The Repub candidate for 1st selection was out going door to door & putting up signs... the Dem incumbent put up signs early but I never saw him going door to door or even heard about it. And, with the budget problems my town had, it would have been tough for any incumbent. But, he ended up getting swamped.

[catmother]

4. christopher shays seems to be an okay guy. i believe he

voted against clinton's impeachment.

[calico1]

6. He was also the only Republican House member

to attend an abortion rights meeting. This was during the last presidential elections and I remember reading about it. The meeting was for supporters of abortion rights and he was the only repub to attend it. So he is okay, but since he is still in the party, not okay enough for me! LOL.

[catmother]

9. i hear you. one of the things that impressed me was before the

impeachment he held a town meeting asking his constituents how they felt he should vote. maybe he'll change parties. sometimes they do.

[connecticut yankee]

14. He holds Town Meetings very often

to keep in touch with his constituents.

He says he's a Republican because he supports their position on Free Markets. Translation -- he lives in a wealthy district and wants to keep the rich folks happy.

I've met him several times and I believe he's a honorable person who has done a lot for Connecticut and for the country.

I've gone on record in this Forum and others as supporting him.

I think he's a maverick in the mold of Lowell Weicker. He votes with his conscience, rather than the party line. He's gone against many of the GOP positions, and has gotten himself in trouble for it. They tried to get rid of him a few years ago, but were unsuccessful.

I intend to vote for him in 2006.

[AX10]

25. He is no maverick in the Weicker mold.

The district leans blue and is not right wing. Oust Shays.

[NewJeffCT]

12. Shays would be okay if we had the majority

But, now he votes with Republicans in deciding committe chairmanships and so many other important things. Even if it's often just procedural issues, it is still a vote for Republicans and the DeLay agenda.

[JerseygirlCT]

19. Yeah, I agree

I find it hard to work myself into much of a lather over him -- as they go, he's among the least offensive. But at this point, it's a numbers game. We need the majority, plain and simple. So no Republican is really an acceptable one.

[AX10]

24. That's how I feel. He has to go. Westport Mayor Diane Farrell...

almost ousted him last year (3.8% win for Shays, the closest ever).

[Mend]

7. We need to become the majority in the House....maybe our

best chance is in the northern blue states if good candidates would run.

[calico1]

8. One of the problems with the Northern states

in my opinion is that voters don't really see a huge difference between the candidates. And as long as the Republicans stay favorable on abortion, gay rights and other issues like that, voters don't really see a big difference and don't feel a threat. This is one of the reasons they keep getting elected. Democrats here need to do a better job of pointing out the differences in the Republicans and not be so damn agreeable with them as they are sometimes.

[Mend]

10. and if we keep repeating the word "majority and it better not be

delay" over and over again.