To those looking for a battleground election in solid Blue Connecticut, look no further than the 4th Congressional District race between 21-year incumbent Republican Christopher Shays and Democratic challenger Jim Himes.
Orange-to-Blue Democrat Jim Himes is the real deal. A passionate supporter of Barack Obama, Jim Himes has received Obama's strong endorsement. Jim Himes was also an attendee and panelist at 2008 Netroots Nation.
One month ago, a CT-04 poll had Jim Himes trailing Chris Shays by 10 points.
But after six head-to-head debates, three of them televised, the most recent SurveyUSA poll has Himes with a narrow 3 point edge over Shays, at 48-45.
A Republican incumbent topping out at 45 in an election cycle favoring Democrats is not a good sign for Chris Shays. Troubling for Shays is that Himes is nearly even in fundraising, a remarkable achievement in this district. Even more daunting is the prospect of running against the tide of grassroots and netroots Obama supporters rallying to Jim Himes with just ten days until election day.
That same SurveyUSA poll has Obama surging in CT-04 with a 59-37 lead of 22 points in the district. That means even historically solid Red towns like Wilton, CT, which have helped elect Shays to 11 terms in Congress, may go Blue for the first time in 40 or more years. Wilton has been carried by a Democratic presidential candidate only once in more than 100 years -- and that was in the landslide of 1964 when LBJ defeated Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. I know lawn-signs don't vote, but if they did, this would be a landslide in Wilton for Obama and Jim Himes!
At the Republican National Convention this year Chris Shays was interviewed by NBC's Andrea Mitchell. They played the deceitful tv ad trying to coopt "the hopefulness of Obama", but in the same clip Shays attacks Barack Obama:
"Barack Obama has no record. None. Zero. Zip."
Shays, the Connecticut co-chairman, along with Joe Lieberman, of the McCain-Palin campaign, gives a full-throated endorsement of John McCain:
"The key for me was making sure that John McCain was the candidate. I'm not even sure I would have run again if it wasn't.... I wanted someone I could really be excited about."
And then, Chris Shays on Sarah Palin as McCain's VP pick:
"I think she's awesome."
The full 4:14 Chris Shays interview with Andrea Mitchell (sorry for the poor video quality, but it's the audio that really counts here):
Let's beat this flake. Finally. Once and for all.
I don't care what you do. But you need to do something:
Donate.
Either at Orange-to-Blue or at Jim Himes for Congress.
Call and email everyone you know, especially those supporting Obama, to vote for Obama-supporter Jim Himes for Congress.
Click on a town in CT-04 to find the Obama-Himes-Democratic office where you can get involved with phonecalling and canvassing to Get Out The Vote for Barack Obama, Jim Himes and downticket Democrats.
Volunteer to Get Out The Vote for Barack Obama and Jim Himes in CT-04.
In an alarming display of editorial hypocrisy yesterday's NYT endorsed Chris Shays. Just the day before they endorsed Barack Obama for President, rejecting the failed McCain policies of George W. Bush.
Interestingly, just above this on the editorial page was their endorsement of Democrat Joe Courtney in CT-02, where the NYT said about Courtney's Republican challenger "Sullivan backs the tired Bush policies, including tax cuts for the wealthy."
What? So does Chris Shays!
But Jim Himes is the real deal, a progressive netroots Democrat running in the biggest Battleground election in Connecticut.
Donate.
Volunteer.
Get Out The Vote.