Congressman Shays Re-elected

Bridgeport - 71% Farrell,  Darien - 72% Shays,  Easton - 60% Shays, Fairfield - 56% Shays, Greenwich - 60% Shays, Monroe - 61% Shays,  New Canaan - 70% Shays,  Norwalk 53% Farrell,  Oxford - 59%Shays,  Redding - 54% Shays,  Ridgefield - 57% Shays,  Shelton - 59% Shays,  Stamford - 47% Farrell,  Trumbull - 59% Shays,  Weston - 50.66% Shays,  Westport - 51% Farrell,  Wilton - 61% Shays.

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Senator Dodd Re-elected

Color-coding for headlines...
Congress 2004:  link to clearing-house:  articles below...red for Senate,blue for House

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U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2nd District, and Democratic challenger James Sullivan of Norwich will debate at 8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 20. U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, the Democratic incumbent from East Haddam, and Republican opponent Jack Orchulli of Darien will debate at 8 p.m. Monday Oct. 18.

The Day has provided tickets directly to the campaign staffs. The public may obtain tickets for the debates beginning Tuesday at The Day offices in New London, Pawcatuck and Norwich, at the Groton Public Library on Route 117 and at the Waterford Public Library on Rope Ferry Road.

The candidates will be questioned by a panel of three reporters and editors. Members of the League of Women Voters will moderate and provide timing at the debates. 

"Leading requires that I speak the truth to you and your neighbors," said Shays, who formerly lived in Stamford and represented the city in the State House of Representatives.  "Thank you for your guidance, thank you for your criticism and thank you for your love and affection," Shays told the crowd of Republicans at the bakery.
The fact that Shays, a Republican, is running against Westport First Selectwoman Diane Farrell, a Democrat, is no surprise. Shays was nominated unanimously by his party in May.

But this election, the first since the U.S.-led war in Iraq, promises to be tougher than Shays' past re-election bids.  The November vote in what he calls "a divided country," may be more a referendum on Shays' continuing support of that war and President Bush than it is about any other issue, Democrats and Republicans said.  Shays agreed that many voters supported the war in Iraq because they believed weapons of mass destruction would be found in the country. Congress and the president bear responsibility for that belief, he said.

"I think we are all to blame for that belief, but we did believe it," he said. "We had every reason to believe it."  Bill Clinton and the Central Intelligence Agency also believed it, Shays said.   During a Westport town meeting before the war began, Shays said that if weapons of mass destruction were not found in Iraq during the war, he and others would be in political trouble.  They weren't found -- at least not yet -- and he may be in trouble, Shays said yesterday.

"I think that may have cost us some of our credibility," he said.  At the same time, invading Iraq and ousting dictator Saddam Hussein, whose trial in Iraq began yesterday, was the right decision and has paid dividends in the willingness of other authoritarian governments to negotiate with the United States, Shays said.  Donna Loglisci, Stamford city and town clerk and a former Shays campaign manager, said that many may see this fall's election as a vote for or against Bush as much as a vote for or against Shays.

"I think some people have seen Chris as not so much in the middle as aligning himself with the administration," she said. One thing about Shays is that "he believes what he is doing," she said.  The 4th Congressional District race may be the most interesting in the country this year, Loglisci said.  Jack Halpert, a Stamford Republican who attended Shays' campaign stop, said that Shays' experience will convince voters to support him.

"It is going to be a tough race," he said. "I think it is going to hinge on Iraq."  Running at the same time that Bush is up for re-election would appear to be a disadvantage, Shays said.  "Right now, the president is not doing well in the 4th District," Shays said.  In an interview, Farrell said yesterday that Shays should be tied to Bush in voters'
minds.

"I think it is a big deal," she said. In his recent years in Congress, Shays has tended to vote more in accord with the rest of the Republicans, and has supported Bush in the votes on the most important issues, she said.  "I think people have serious concerns about the direction of the national agenda," Farrell said.  Shays said his political leanings have not changed substantially. The nonpartisan National Journal has consistently listed him about in the middle of the spectrum from liberal to conservative, he points out.

Shays said he has voted 78 percent with his party and 67 percent with Bush.  "My political views and positions are very compatible with the district," he said.

But Farrell said Shays helps maintain a Republican majority in Congress, even if he doesn't agree with the GOP leadership on every issue.  For instance, Shays supports stem-cell research, alternative fuels and conservation and abortion rights. "As long as Chris remains in the House of Representatives, he supports a majority that will make sure stem-cell research never comes to pass," she said. "He isn't going to be able to effectively move the agenda forward."

William Wrenn of Norwalk, a former Democratic Norwalk Common Council member and long-standing opponent of the war in Iraq, said that it may be the most important issue in the country this year.  "He should at least admit that he is wrong," Wrenn said. "The country has paid a very high price."  The country has lost not only the servicemen and women killed, but also the $200 billion the war has cost, Wrenn said.  "That is money that could have been used for schools or to offset the high
property taxes we pay around here," he said.

Farrell, who serves on several transportation and planning groups in the state, also has argued that Shays should have done more to secure federal funding for
transportation issues.  "I believe I can do a better job on transportation. For one thing, it will be a priority for me," she said.  Shays said yesterday that a lot of federal money already comes to Connecticut.

"The federal government is spending more on transportation in Connecticut than Connecticut is," he said. "The state government must find a way to contribute its share."  At the same time, some things must change, he said. For instance, nationally, 40 percent of freight traffic moves by rail, but that figure is only 3 percent in
Connecticut, Shays said.

Shays said Stamford is crucial to his re-election, which he said will be tough.  Shays, a Darien native, represented Stamford in the state House before being elected to Congress in a special election in 1987. He completed the term of Stewart McKinney, who died while in office.  Michael Pansini, a longtime active Republican in the city, agreed that Stamford is key for Shays this year.

"Because it is going to be a close race, it is very important, especially in North Stamford, to get the vote out," he said.

Saying he believes the Bush Administration has not been forthcoming about its knowledge of the recently publicized scandal involving abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. military personnel, U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays (R-4) also contends the Administration did not want Congress to get in its way in both Iraq and Afghanistan. "What I fear is there was a lack of candor, that they really did know more about this, said the congressman during an interview on Saturday at his home in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport. "And they probably tried to contain it and then they couldn't, he added of the prisoner abuse scandal that began unfolding last week after photographs revealed U.S. military personnel humiliating Iraqi POWs at Abu Ghraib Prison near Baghdad.

Rep. Shays avowed that he was reserving judgment on calling for the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, although he surmised that the present scandal would still cast a shadow over the United States a decade from now. "The (Bush) Administration's Achilles' heel is that it wants more power and less oversight, said Rep. Shays. "But when you want more power, you need more oversight. Rep. Shays recalled a trip to Iraq last summer, during which he asked to see some of Saddam Hussein's prisons, but was refused because U.S. military forces, at that point, were utilizing the former dictator's jailhouses as POW camps.

"Had I gotten into those prisons, this is what would have happened, posed the congressman hypothetically. "I would have seen human waste being thrown at our (military personnel), I would have seen probably pretty horrific conditions. I would have had some of the soldiers come up to me and say, 'I'm a cook, I don't know what I'm doing here, or 'I'm a police officer, but I'm not a jailer, I don't know how to do this,' said Rep. Shays. "The odds would have been someone would have come up and said, 'Congressman, you need to take a look at this' it would have happened, he stated with conviction, adding, "I would have gone back (to Washington), just in seeing the conditions, and said things like 'we don't have enough people.'

Recently returned from his fifth trip to Iraq, Rep. Shays said the first time he went into Iraq, he was told he shouldn't go, even though he went under military auspices. "When I went again, I was told I shouldn't go outside the military and that I could only go under the umbrella of the military, he said of his subsequent trips traveling with private humanitarian organizations such as Westport-based Save the Children.

"But when you go under the umbrella of the military, they take you to certain places and they give you the briefings of what they're doing, he continued. "They didn't take us to the prisons. They probably didn't want us to see, frankly, the conditions that our troops were under.

Also stating that the Bush Administration ignored warnings by Secretary of State Colin Powell and the State Department about what would eventuate after the U.S. invaded Iraq, Rep. Shays believes President Bush relied on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's school of thought on rebuilding Iraq after the invasion. "When the story is told about Iraq, said Rep. Shays, "it will be that the President sided with Defense and Rumsfeld in how to rebuild a country, and not with the State Department and Colin Powell. Colin Powell's folks were saying, 'You've got to plan for these things,' and they predicted the things, noted the congressman. "They said the country's going to be trashed.

Rep. Shays this week travels to Jordan, where he will be the only member of Congress to attend the World Economic Forum, and will be one of six panelists to formally respond to an address by the Prime Minister of Spain. Having been the target of a deadly terrorist attack in March, when close to 200 rail commuters were killed by a series of bombs planted on trains in and around Madrid, Spain recently announced the withdrawal of troops from the Coalition in Iraq. "I can assure you that I will hear about (the prisoner abuse scandal) the whole time I'm there, said Rep. Shays of his trip to the Middle East. "And there will be harsh things said.

Pre-convention (s) reports below:

Congressman is frequent flyer
By JENNIFER CONNIC, Hour Staff Writer
WASHINGTON -- Several trips to Iraq and other Middle East  countries make U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4th District, one of the most traveled members of the U.S. House of Representatives.  Shays ranked third among his colleagues with six trips over 54 days to 18 countries, traveling mainly as chairman of the Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations.

He visited Iraq three times and Jordan, Kuwait and Sweden twice each. He also stopped in Israel, Qatar, the West Bank and Gaza, Norway, Russia, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria and Italy.  In part, Shays inspected reconstruction efforts in Iraq; attended a conference in Norway on the dismantling of the former Soviet Union's submarine fleet; spoke to an international conference on issues facing the Middle East; inspected humanitarian programs in Kuwait and Iraq; met with Palestinian and Israeli officials; conferred with Hans Blix, the former U.N. weapons inspector, on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and participated in Geneva meetings on biological weapons.

Shays said his travels abroad are important for his work as chairman of the National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations Subcommittee.  "All of my trips except the one to (Milan, Italy) were for my job as chairman," he said.  without going abroad and working with the issues, he said, he "might as well not be chairman of the committee." The subcommittee's work centers on terrorism threats, and Shays said his trips are where he gets his information.

"Our work has to be centered on the Middle East," he said. "If we solve our problems there, we will make tremendous headway in solving our terrorism problems." The one trip not focused on terrorism issues, Shays said, was in Milan, Italy where he attended a conference on environmental issues pertaining to the Kyoto Protocol.

Shays said it is important for him to divide his time between national security issues and issues facing the home district.  When he is home, which is approximately 50 percent of his time, he focuses on issues facing the district including housing, transportation and the economic future of Bridgeport, he said.  When he is in Washington or abroad he focuses on the other issues such as terrorism and financial matters, he said.  Shays was among a large number of U.S. representatives that visited Italy and Kuwait last year.

Italy and Kuwait were the most popular overseas stops for U.S. House members traveling on official business in 2003 based on figures in the Congressional Record.  Each country received 54 visits from representatives in a year that saw nearly half the chamber undertake taxpayer-funded trips to foreign destinations.  Germany ranked third with 53 visits from House members, followed by the United Kingdom with 50 visits, Iraq with 45 visits, Jordan with 32 visits, Cape Verde with 28 visits, Spain with 27 visits, Turkey with 26 visits and France and Russia with 25 visits each.

NATO ally Italy, a world leader in tourism, historically has been a popular stopover for lawmakers on long flights between the United States and points east.  Kuwait, Iraq and Jordan began receiving contingents of lawmakers after the fall of Baghdad in April 2003.

Richard G. Thomas of The Roll Call Report Syndicate contributed to this story.

"There is no way we are going to fix our roads, there is no way we are going to fix our rails, without spending more money," he said.

In a news conference at the Norwalk Inn & Conference Center, Shays, R-Bridgeport, also talked about his recent trip to Iraq, a recent survey of his constituents and other issues. He bristled at the suggestion by his probable Democratic opponent in this fall's election that he was out of touch with his constituents.  Almost 80 percent of the nearly 25,000 respondents to his survey want the assault weapons ban to continue past its September expiration date, Shays said.

"I am a strong supporter of the assault weapons ban," he said. "I am in touch."

On the gas tax, Shays said an increase in the state's levy would provide more money for road and rail rebuilding and is the best way to ensure that taxes raised in the Fourth Congressional District are spent here.  An increase of a penny a gallon would cost drivers only $10 dollars a year if they get 20 miles to the gallon and drive 20,000 miles, he said.  Shays has said previously that the state's gas tax -- which was as high as 39 cents a gallon in 1997 -- was cut at the expense of mass transit needs. It is now 25 cents.

A side benefit of the increase in gas taxes would be that drivers would give more thought to fuel efficiency, he said.  His recent survey of residents found that 17 percent believe traffic congestion on the Merritt Parkway and Interstate 95 is the most important local issue they face.  About 24 percent rated property taxes as the top priority.

But Diane Farrell, Westport's first selectwoman and Shays' likely Democratic challenger this fall, disagrees about the wisdom of a gas tax increase.  "I think it is a defeatist attitude," she said. "I would rather fight harder to get more of our fair share from the federal government."  With prices high, it is a bad time to raise taxes on gasoline, Farrell said. "I am not prepared to say that the only solution to the problem is to impose another tax at the pump."

Shays said his recent trip to Iraq, his fifth in the last year, convinced him that the transfer of power to an Iraqi government needs to happen as soon as possible.  Shays said even if a temporary Iraqi governing body takes over, the United States should remain. But he said casualties will occur.  Shays said he supported the nomination of the likely U.S. ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte, the current U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. "He is well-qualified to do the job," Shays said. "He knows the players. . . . He has my support."

The nomination has been controversial because of Negroponte's involvement in the Iran-contra affair.  Iran-contra was a plan overseen by National Security aide Oliver North to sell arms to Iran while seeking freedom for American hostages being held in the Middle East. Some of the proceeds of the arms sales were diverted to the contra
rebels, who in the 1980s were fighting the Soviet-backed government of Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega.

Shays once again criticized the handling of the invasion and occupation of Iraq by saying more authority should have been given to the U.S. State Department and less to the U.S. Department of Defense. "I think it was a huge mistake to have the line of authority go through defense," he said.  Shays also said the Iraqi government, police and military should not have been disbanded. "Not everyone in the government was bad, or in the police or the military," he said.

Shays has been criticized by some, including Farrell, for spending too much time on foreign affairs.  "I think he is missing the local picture, and that has been my contention all along," she said. "Certainly it is important that he be informed about the issues in Iraq, but I am not convinced that it takes five trips to see that we have no exit plan."

Shays said he has a national role because of the national security and oversight committees he serves on, and has received national attention.  "Candidly, I know more about Iraq than any member of Congress," he said. "I am playing, in some sense, a national role."

"I've been here the past 10 years, eating, sleeping and breathing the issues of this district," said Farrell, 48, who is in her third term as Westport's first selectwoman. "Chris has been in Washington for the past 16 years."

Farrell's comments came during an hourlong lunchtime forum with about 40 people, including former Greenwich First Selectman Richard Bergstresser, at Town Hall...

Shays, R-Bridgeport, has raised $592,000 overall for his re-election campaign, which he officially will announce May 10. Both candidates have a similar amount of cash on hand. Shays has $365,000. Farrell has $330,000. Farrell, a two-term first selectwoman, said she did not expect the fund-raising success her campaign has achieved. The campaign manager of Farrell for Congress, Adam Wood, said no Democrat seeking the Fourth Congressional District has raised as much so early in the race.

"It's wonderfully heartening," Farrell said. "It's validated our intuition that people are ready for change in the district and eager to talk about the issues both at the local level and the national scene."

Michael Sohn, campaign manager for the Christopher Shays for Congress Committee, said the campaign is confident it will raise and spend the amount needed to "get its message out."

"Chris has always raised no more and no less than he needs to run a campaign, and we will do that again," Sohn said.  He added that Shays' focus has been "doing his job representing the people" of the district, which includes 17 southwestern Connecticut towns. That is where he's been spending a majority of his time and energy . . . just like he has since 1987," Sohn said.

Farrell's campaign drew a $2,000 donation from Westport actor Paul Newman and won praise from the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Robert Matsui of California.  "The Fourth District is another example of our success in expanding the House  playing field, and this will certainly be a race to watch," Matsui said in a statement.

WASHINGTON

The sun set over the U.S. Capitol more than an hour ago; and House members, including U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, are just making their
way to the floor for the first vote of the day.

Shays joins his colleagues on the floor for several votes on procedural matters and the members begin clearing the floor by 7:06 p.m.

The roll call votes are just the tip of the iceberg for Shays on a day packed with meetings, speeches and events that began an hour before sunrise
at his three-story townhouse, that he shares with his wife, Betsi, in the Southwest section of Washington, D.C.

Most mornings Shays is out the door by 7 a.m., as is Betsi, who bicycles the 2.5 miles to work at Peace Corps headquarters on K Street in the
northwest section of the city.

This particular morning starts around 6 a.m. for Shays.

He loads up a gym bag with a foot-thick pile of paperwork and files in manila folders or neatly placed in three-ring binders.

He pops into his garage and grabs a Slim-Fast from a small refrigerator, stocked with cans of the diet supplement and bottles of Gatorade, searches
frantically for a few moments for his keys and heads out to his black Jeep Grand Cherokee.

He drives to the Rayburn House Office Building garage and heads to the members' gym to shower and shave. Some days, he runs first.

Changing lives

Shays was elected to Congress in 1987 and has commuted between Connecticut and Capitol Hill ever since.

He used to sleep at his aunt and uncle's house in Arlington, Va., until they moved away around 1990. Then Shays just slept in his office in the
Cannon House Office Building during the week.

Betsi Shays taught at a school in New Canaan, Conn., and the couple's home was in Stamford, Conn., with their daughter, Jeramy. They later
bought a house in Bridgeport, which they share with Shays' mother, Peggy.

In 1998, Betsi Shays was hired as director of the Peace Corps' Coverdell World Wise Schools Program in Washington and has since become director
of Domestic Programs.

The family began renting an apartment on Capitol Hill and commuted back to the 4th District on weekends. By that time, their daughter Jeramy was
attending Principia College near St. Louis, a school for Christian Scientists from which her father graduated in 1968.

Jeramy now has her own apartment in Washington and works for the Environmental Law Institute. She was recently accepted at the Vermont
School of Law.

When rents began to climb on Capitol Hill, the Shays family went hunting for a second home.

The couple purchased their three-story townhouse in Washington for $270,000 in 2001, according to real estate records.

The brick building, painted white, was built in 1961 after the city bulldozed most of the Southwest section of the city in the name of
redevelopment.

"Southwest, we think, is a wonderful part of the city. It doesn't have the ambiance but it is close to the Capitol and I can bike to work," Betsi
Shays says.

Christopher Shays agrees that Southwest is convenient, even if it does lack the restaurants and cafes of trendier neighborhoods.

"It is four and a half minutes from my office, six minutes with the lights, eight minutes from the airport and four blocks from the [National] Mall," he
says.

The couple, who met in high school, rarely dine out at restaurants or do much outside of work. He typically brings home a large pile of reports,
testimony, letters and e-mails to review after spending 12 to 15 hours on the go.

"We mostly work here, so there is not room for a lot of ambiance, and we are not here on the weekends. We want to get home to Connecticut,"
Betsi Shays says.

The couple has not had a real vacation since before Sept. 11, 2001. They are members of the Black Rock Yacht Club in Bridgeport but have only
been there five times in the last two years.

"I went sailing once and didn't play tennis at all," Shays says. "It represents more of a dream than a current reality."

Still, the couple insists they are not complaining. They love their careers.

At first Shays was a little nervous about moving across the street from Washington's Greenleaf Gardens low-income housing development, but it
has undergone renovations and crime is down from a decade ago.

Shays was attracted to the townhouse's large banks of windows, front and back, which let plenty of light into the six-room house. He also loves
the back yard with its stand of tall trees.

On the first floor of the townhouse is a garage where Shays keeps two bicycles. His black Grand Cherokee stays outside. There is also a narrow
hallway and small living room in the back that is rarely used. A couch there has pillows with "Peanuts" characters celebrating his campaign victories
and on the wall are political photographs and a framed copy of the state's coat of arms with the motto "Qui Transtulit Sustinet," which translates
to: He who transplanted still sustains.

The walls of the 1,727-square-foot home are painted bright yellow with white trim. Along the first-floor hallway and stairway above are family
photographs, including a bridal picture of Betsi and one of Shays holding Jeramy when she was just a toddler.

The second-floor has a dining room, a galley kitchen and a living room that is decorated with several pieces of furniture, including a wood armoire,
purchased from "Prince of Wales," an antique store in Westport, Conn. There are bedrooms and a full bath on the top floor.

"It is wonderful to have a home of our own here," Betsi Shays says. "Connecticut is home with a capital 'H' but for many years Chris was commuting
back and forth and I like seeing this guy."

Shays says that having two homes, and basically two jobs, district work and legislative work, means that some things just don't get done.

"Like curtains," he says, pointing to the bank of undressed windows in their townhouse.

First to the office

Shays is the first to arrive at his office in the House Longworth Office Building. He goes to his large wooden desk and unloads the paperwork from
his gym bag.

There are already other piles of documents on his desk left by his staff and staff from his committees. He serves on four committees - Government
Reform, Budget, Financial Services and Homeland Security.

"I have 18 people producing work for me," he says.

Shays likes to have his papers in three-ring binders to keep them in order. To help manage his and his staff's time, Shays insists that everyone
carry Franklin Planners. The planners are made by Franklin Covey, a company based in Salt Lake City. The company's vice chairman, Steven Covey,
a devout Mormon, is the author of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People."

Aside from his office work, Shays has an inch-thick manila folder of financial documents from his daughter. She is looking for some financial
assistance to defray the cost of law school.

Shays explains that the mornings are typically a "wonderful time to get things done." He has an office rule that nothing should be scheduled for him
before 8:30 a.m.

That rule is broken this morning. Shays heads to the Pentagon for breakfast with Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and Rep. Frank Wolf,
R-Va. Shays brings along Nicholas Palarino, a senior policy analyst on his National Security Subcommittee and a member of the Vietnam Helicopter
Pilots Association.

Shays and Wolf want to discuss ideas they came up with after they visited Iraq in December. "We encouraged him to meet with some of the
military that is critical of Iraq and NGOs [non-governmental organizations providing humanitarian relief] to get other perspectives," Shays says.

Returning to his office around 9 a.m., Shays sits down with a dozen members of his legislative staff, plus several district workers on a conference
phone, to discuss events coming up in the next few weeks.

Between the individual staff updates, Shays offers a couple of inspirational quotes for them to ponder, including one culled from his Franklin
planner: "Life is now in session, are you present?"

After his staff departs, Shays meets with Michael Stricoff, a high school student from Monroe, who is participating in the Presidential Classroom
program.

Stricoff asks Shays his opinion of the scandal developing around Gov. John G. Rowland back in Connecticut.

"John crossed the line," Shays says.

The congressman says that Rowland should resign but he does not believe the evidence to date shows Rowland should be impeached.

The meeting with Stricoff is interrupted by a telephone call from his wife, Betsi.

"Hi, darling love," he says.

A longtime friend of Shays is in town and Betsi Shays wants to know when and where to plan for dinner. Shays suggests that since this is a special
occasion they should go to the Capital Grille. Reservations are made for 8 p.m., when voting in the House should be over, leaving him time to stop
at a Save AmeriCorps Coalition reception at the U.S. Botanical Garden Conservatory down the hill from the Capitol.

Shays says that this will be the second time since he has been in Washington that he has dined at the Capital Grille, well known as a haunt of
political bigwigs on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Shays takes a photograph with Stricoff, smiling and saying "sunny" as the camera flashes.

Shays is also briefed on a forum he will participate in later in the month on the impact of a cyber and physical attack on financial sector
infrastructure.

Shays then meets with Republican staff from the House Budget Committee and with Mike Lubell, a lobbyist for the National Science Board, Doug
Comer of Intel, and Bob Richardson of Cornell University. They are concerned that the federal government is not spending enough on basic
scientific research.

Richardson won the 1996 Nobel Prize in physics for his discovery of superfluidity in helium-3.

"It was the biggest surprise of my life," Richardson tells Shays.

The physicist goes on to explain that basic science research is moving offshore to countries like Australia, India and the United Kingdom. The loss
could cost the United States its next generation of inventors and, with it, the innovative edge that has kept our economic engine chugging.

Shays gives him a good-natured pat on the head.

"I get it," Shays says.

National security issue

The meeting over, Shays walks to the Library of Congress to speak at a "health and safety" conference of the Office of Compliance.

There he stresses his support for legislation that requires Congress to live by the laws it passes for others.

He then catches a ride from his scheduler, Diana White, to the Hyatt Regency hotel, just northwest of the Capitol, to speak at a luncheon meeting
of the American Federation of Government Employees.

Danielle Rosengarten, his legislative assistant, informs Shays that the federal labor union gave him a "zero" on their legislative scorecard this year.
He opposed them on all their key votes last year and voted with them only once in the 107th Congress.

"It's probably not going to be long," Shays tells her, referring to his address to the group.

After a brief speech, in which he acknowledges his opposition to most of their employee issues, Shays sits down at a table and talks to individual
members of the group for about a half-hour.

Shays stops in the cafeteria of the Rayburn House Office Building for a quick sandwich before a hearing of his National Security Subcommittee
begins. The hearing was called to examine the role public diplomacy, radio, television and arts
has had in convincing people in the Middle East that the war on terrorism is not a war on Islam.

Shays later meets with Pitney Bowes CEO Michael J. Critelli, then votes on several procedural matters in the House, stops at the AmeriCorps
reception, and has dinner with his wife and friend.

It's been a typical day in the life of this congressman. 

She portrayed him as inattentive to growing regional transportation woes and as undergoing a "startling" change in his voting record that has hurt Fairfield County.

"I have no personal animas against Christopher Shays," Farrell told about 50 supporters at Oscar's Deli on Main Street, the first of four district appearances announcing her candidacy.

"This is not about an individual," she said, adding that the race should not be partisan but about "issues and accountability."

"Look at Christopher Shays' (voting) record." Farrell said. "It has changed. It is startling."

Calling Shays "much less of an independent source," Farrell ticked off a list of votes Shays has cast and issues that he has supported that she said have not been in the best interests of his Fairfield County constituents.

Among them was the federal No Child Left Behind Act aimed at improving the nation's schools.

She said it was a "one-size-fits-all" unfunded federal mandate "that penalizes everybody" and chided her opponent about holding a weekend forum in Stamford on its impact.

"I don’t know why Christopher Shays would vote for it and then come back to the electorate last week and ask them what they think," Farrell said.

She said Shays had voted for deficit-building tax cuts and has been supportive of President Bush's "go-it-alone" foreign policy.

"It doesn't work," Farrell said. "We must maintain relationships off our shores," adding: "You don't decide to act unilaterally and pick up the pieces later."

She said she was "motivated to run especially now because I disagree with the policies of the Bush administration and the right-wing Congress."

Farrell said in her seven years as Westport's chief executive, she has worked hard to better the lives of her constituents, including trying to improve the region's transportation problems.

She said while it would be unfair to put the Interstate-95 traffic congestion at Shays' feet, he could have been more aggressive in seeking solutions, especially federal funding for new rail cars on the New Haven Line.

Farrell said Shays' support of increasing the gasoline tax to raise funds for purchase of new cars was a "defeatist conclusion." "I'm not convinced we can't do better," she said.

Farrell said she was "sick of begging" for money for transportation needs and wanted to be elected so she could demand funding. "I want to go down to Washington and be in everyone's face," she said.

Farrell said she would be supportive of first responders to make sure that they had the equipment and training to meet the needs of a world with increased terrorist threats.

"The federal government has been too slow" in funding them, she said.

At one point when she began a statement with "If you send me to Washington…" she was interrupted with a shout of "We will!"

Farrell, who has been active in addressing regional issues as head of the Metropolitan Planning Organization of the South West Regional Planning Agency, said she understands the importance of regional cooperation and paying attention to local issues.

Repeating the political mantra that "all politics is local," Farrell said when she goes to Staples football games she is always on the sidelines as close as she can get to the field.

"The best place to be is where the action is," she said. "That's what it's been like for me for the past 10 years (as First Selectwoman and Board of Finance member)."

Obviously referring to Shays, she said there is a different view on the 50-yard line sitting halfway up in the stands.

"The safety net is at the local level, Farrell said. "This where the rubber hits the road."

The Westport chief executive, who began her political career as a PTA activist, recalled that Westport Republicans as well as Democrats and independents had supported her in her earlier bids for public office.

She appealed for similar support in her Congressional race.

Farrell said she had been most influenced in her life by her parents, her church and scouting and said she would carry their teachings with her to Washington.

Selectman Carl Leaman acted as emcee at the announcement, saying Farrell's candidacy had made the 4th Congressional District "in play" and no longer a safe Republican seat.

Joining in the delicatessen ceremony were state Sen. Andrew McDonald of Stamford and Diane Jepsen, wife of state Democratic Party chair George Jepsen, who was unable to make the Westport event.

Westporters speaking on behalf of Farrell included Gwen Campbell, a member of the Representative Town Meeting, longtime friend Laurie Boynton, Cathy Colgan, who said she was a Democrat filling in for her Republican commuter husband, Bob, and Mickey Herbst, a local businessman.

Several of them had spoken at earlier Farrell announcements of her candidacy for Board of Finance and then First Selectwoman.

Farrell followed her Westport appearance with stops in Bridgeport, Stamford and Norwalk.

The Bridgeport appearance at the Schwerdtle Stamp Co. included Mayor John Fabrizi, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, Treasurer Denise Nappier, Comptroller Nancy Wyman, and John Olsen, president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO.

The Stamford announcement at the William Pitt Early Childhood Development Center included invited guests Mayor Dan Malloy and Marcia Lieberman.

The afternoon Norwalk event at the South Norwalk train station included guests Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro from Connecticut's 3rd District and Mayor Alex Knopp.

"I've generally been unhappy with the Republican agenda and, more often than not, Chris supports the Republican agenda," Farrell, a Democrat, said about the Bridgeport Republican who has held the seat since 1987.  Before making a formal announcement of her candidacy next month, Farrell said she will travel throughout the district
comprising primarily the state's southwest section hosting "brown bag" lunches, as she routinely does in Westport, to meet with the public.

Farrell said her campaign will focus on fiscal responsibility, education and quality-of-life issues such as health care, air quality and transportation.  Midway through her second four-year term as Westport's chief executive, Farrell doesn't risk losing that post if her bid for Congress is unsuccessful.  But she is the most prominent Democratic challenger to Shays in a procession of contenders that he has dispatched with ease since first claiming the seat in a special election following the death of Stewart McKinney.

Only once since Shays was first elected has any opponent won 40 percent of the vote. But he has acknowledged his solid support for the war in Iraq has generated considerable controversy.  Still, Shays enjoys a national profile, incumbency and the advantage of the same ballot line with President Bush, who is expected to generate strong Republican voter turnout in the district this year.  Shays acknowledged Farrell represents a greater challenge than he has faced in the past.

"She is going to be a significant challenge. But when you have been in politics as long as me, you get to a position when you say, 'If I'm going to lose, I'm going to lose my way,' " Shays said.  "I love my job and I think I'm good at it and I will win re-election if people feel I've done a good job," he said.

Shays is highly regarded for constituent service and has a moderate stance that plays well even in heavily Democratic Bridgeport, said Sacred Heart University political science professor Gary Rose.  "Anybody who takes him on has quite a chore ahead," Rose said "He's got a super-safe seat."

In 2002, Shays raised nearly $1 million, whereas challenger Stephanie Sanchez raised $118,970, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. As of last October, Shays had already raised more than $200,000 for this year.

Farrell, a 48-year-old mother of two, has lived in Westport virtually all of her life.  A former advertising executive, she was a member of the town's Board of Finance before her election to the town's top job.