More than Obama’s coattails led to Himes’ win
Connecticut Post, Wednesday, November 05, 2008
By KEN DIXON
U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays called it a "tsunami" that swept him from office after 21 years serving Connecticut's 4th Congressional District.
But there was more than one element that created the conditions for Jim Himes, 42, of Greenwich -- whose elected experience was limited to the local tax board in his hometown -- to win where Democrats have lost for 40 years.
- There was huge district-wide turnout for Barack Obama, supplying Himes with momentum to upset the 63-year-old Shays, who abruptly conceded less than two hours after the polls closed Tuesday night.
- There's a teetering economy, an unpopular president and a morass of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
- There has been a massive shift in voter registration that resulted in 10,000 fewer Republicans than Democrats in the 17-town district.
- The $1.2 million the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee invested in Himes didn't hurt either in the campaign that cost the two candidates a total of $9 million.
- Finally, at a time when the cratering economy became the most important election issue, Himes, a 2002 escapee from Wall Street's executive suites, could talk the talk and informatively argue with Shays about the cause, effects and potential solutions for the dismal financial services and credit-market collapses.
"I think Obama's popularity in the district was a necessary precondition," said David Wasserman, House editor for the Washington-based Cook Political Report, who has watched major congressional races throughout the nation all year.
"But give Himes credit," Wasserman said. "He portrayed Shays as aligned with the Bush administration on the economy and Iraq and took advantage of the massive victory for Barack Obama."
Himes ran up a big 20,000-vote plurality in Bridgeport, a 6,000-vote margin in Stamford, a more than 5,000-vote cushion in Norwalk and more than 3,000 votes in Shelton.
He also was competitive in the smaller affluent suburbs. For instance, Himes lost in Westport by fewer than 1,000 votes and in the Republican bastion of Greenwich received 12,792 votes to Shays' 16,068, according to unofficial returns.
He won the district by about 9,000 votes. Two years ago, Shays won with his smallest plurality of 5,767, over former Westport First Selectwoman Diane Farrell, in a string of 11 congressional elections.
Himes made his first public appearance as congressman-elect on Wednesday, traveling to the state Capitol for a morning news conference with statewide Democratic figures, including U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, state party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo, of Trumbull, and General Assembly leaders.
Himes, whose win will leave New England without a Republican member of the
U.S. House of Representatives, said that helping rebuild the nation's economy will be his initial priority after taking the oath of office in January.
"One of the really challenging and sad things about this campaign, frankly, was that a day would not go by when I did not meet one or two people who lost their jobs or one or two people that had lost their homes," Himes told reporters.
"I really think if we're to redeem the trust that our constituents have placed in us, we will, in January get very serious about taking the measures necessary to restore the stability of the economy and get it running again."
During the congressional campaign, Himes, who left investment banking in 2002 to join a nonprofit affordable-housing company, stressed the need for better federal oversight and regulation over the financial-services industry.
"The cities in my district, Bridgeport in particular, face very substantial challenges," Himes said. "Honestly, one of the things I'm looking forward to the most is continuing the work that I have been doing in the last six years as vice president of Enterprise Community Partners, which is an organization that tries to revitalize distressed inner cities."
Himes admitted that following Shays, who has served in Congress for 21 years, will be tough. "Everywhere I went I heard stories about how terrific Chris Shays' constituent service was and that it was a model for me to emulate."
The last Democrat to hold the 4th District seat was Donald J. Irwin, of Norwalk. Now 82, Irwin, a retired lawyer, teacher and former state treasurer, said in an interview Wednesday night that it was nice to vote Democratic across-the-board on Tuesday and finally get a new Democratic member of Congress.
"I was delighted," said Irwin, who served three terms in Congress before losing to Republican Lowell P. Weicker Jr. in 1968. Irwin admitted that he hadn't paid close attention to the Himes/Shays race.
"I knew he was running and I had some idea of what he was saying," Irwin said. When told that the race cost about $9 million, mostly in TV advertising, Irwin, who was first elected to Congress in 1958, estimated that the most a congressional campaign cost him was $2,000.
"It was a very different time and there just wasn't that much money to spend on the campaigns," Irwin said.
