Remember when kos wrote this?

Reps. Rob Simmons (R-CT 02), Chris Shays (R-CT 04) and Nancy Johnson (R-CT 05) have all won their Dem-leaning seats by chipping off parts of the Dem coalition. But given the poor national environment for GOPers, their Dem challengers looked well-positioned to knock them off this cycle.

-- Yet the GOP incumbents have still managed to secure endorsements from liberal interest groups. Planned Parenthood endorsed both Simmons and Johnson. The League of Conservation Voters is backing Shays and Johnson.

-- And labor is trending towards the CT GOPers. Simmons only raised $8K from labor PACs in his '02 run against Joe Courtney (D). In this year's rematch he's already raised $96K, outdistancing Courtney. And so far, Shays has raised comparable amounts from unions as his Dem opponent Diane Farrell.

That's why we lose as a movement.

Cross-posted from Shayswatch

Chris Shays bills himself as a "different type of Republican". Chris Shays claims to be "principled" and "independent". But Chris Shays likes his job. Chris Shays wants to keep his job. So at the end of the day, Chris Shays will say absolutely anything to get re-elected.

We've already seen that Shays, for all his feigned shock and anger at the Republican culture of corruption, was more than willing to support the ludicrously unethical arch-conservative Roy Blunt's candidacy for House Majority Leader, after Blunt hosted a pair of massive fundraisers supporting Shays' re-election.

And we know that Shays has no problem changing his story on who's fault the failed response to Hurricane Katrina was; one minute he's putting almost all the blame on the Democratic state and local officials and the next, he's moving the blame to President Bush in order to distance himself from his so-called "friend".

In his newest political ploy to save his job, Shays has endorsed Joe Lieberman. Shays claims that he's doing this because he's grateful that Lieberman has "spoken the truth" about the war in Iraq.

Diane Farrell is one of our top challengers in the upcoming midterm elections. After losing a close election against nine-term incumbent Chris Shays in 2004, she's back for a second run.

With over half a million in the bank so far ad the support of the DCCC, EMILY's List, and labor, she's got the guns to take the fight to the Republicans and come home a winner. In a swing district that  John Kerry carried, the political pundit class thinks that she'll give Shays his toughest fight yet and represents one of our best pick-up opportunities in the country.

Diane has consistently run against Shays' irrational, unwavering support for the disastrous war in Iraq. Now, she's challenged him to debate her on the issue this month. Below the fold is the letter she sent him this morning.

Today, the Bush Administration is releasing its budget for FY 2007, and the early analysis is pretty grim. The plan calls for a seven percent increase in Pentagon spending a 3.3 percent increase in Homeland Security, and steep cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and domestic discretionary spending.

The budget follows on the heels of the Budget Reconciliation Act of 2006, which created $40 billion in budget savings by reducing financial aid for students, increasing co-payments for Medicaid beneficiaries, and cutting federal support for efforts to force deadbeat parents to pay child support.

In legislative terms, this budget is a nightmare that slashes the social safety net while opening up the cupboard to Republican special interests. In political terms, it is a gift that we can use to either put a nail in the coffin of the Bush Presidency or ride to big pickups in the midterm elections.

bumped - Matt

The fourth quarter reports are up on the FEC web page, and they're decent, but far from rosy for our guys.

2nd District
Joe Courtney: $175,293 ($450,893 Cash on Hand)
Rob Simmons: $267,869 ($803,371 CoH)

4th District
Diane Farrell: $269,458 ($451,959 CoH)
Chris Shays: $562,946 ($892,552 CoH)

5th District
Chris Murphy: $167,692 ($382,643 CoH)
Nancy Johnson: $304,714 ($2,183,850 CoH)

Fundraising totals for the fourth quarter are in, and the outlook is decent, but not fantastic, for our Democratic hopefuls. I'll have a more detailed analysis as soon as I get ahold of the figures for the fifth district.

In the fourth, however, things are heating up. Chris Shays pulled in $562,945 to Diane Farrell's $269,458. That margin is large, but expected, as Shays has recently been the beneficiary of two large, leadership-led, lobbist-filled fundraisers, and the totals do not include Diane's recent fundraiser with Madeline Albright.

The big news, however, comes out in today's Stamford Advocate:

Crossposted from My Left Nutmeg and Shayswatch

This week, the Brooks Community Newspapers profile Diane Farrell, who is running for Shays' seat this fall. Brooks Community Newspapers runs six publications across the district reaching 210,000 residents.

Diane recently concluded her second term as First Selectwoman of Westport, where she was noted for running an open, honest, responsible administration with bipartisan support.

Diane was reelected with 71% of the vote in 2001, and was succeeded by Democrat Gordon Joseloff. In 2004, she ran against Chris Shays, winning 48% of the vote in one of the closest elections in the country, and now she's back for a rematch. Virtually every pundit and election handicapper agrees that this race will be one of the most competitive in 2006, and represents one of the Democrats' best chances for a pick-up.

So what does Diane have to say?

Crossposted from Shayswatch and My Left Nutmeg.

In yesterday's Hartford Courant, Washington Bureau Chief David Lightman savages Chris Shays' decision to support Roy Blunt's efforts to replace indicted Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

Lightman begins by discarding out of turn the notion that Shays (and Congresswoman Nancy Johnson, CT-05), is backing Blunt because he is the most qualified candidate.

On one level, their endorsement of the Missouri Republican could be a shrewd political move, assuring them of a seat at a Republican table where moderates often have not been welcome.

But backing Blunt opens Johnson, Shays and other Republican centrists to questions - and in some cases withering attacks - from reformers and Democrats. And should Blunt lose - a distinct possibility - the two could be more isolated.

More on the flip...