I knew the 1958 midterm elections had been devastating for the GOP, but surely a stronger word must be used to describe the election’s effect in the CT House delegation. From 6 Republicans and 0 Democrats to 0 Republicans and 6 Democrats in a single election? Talk about a b*tch-slapping. That’s even worse than the 1934 House election results from PA.
I agree that, on paper, the old Nancy Johnson seat (which gave President Bush 49% in 2004) presents our best chance to win back New England House seats outside of the two NH seats (which are eminently winnable for us, especially the NH-01 that gave President Bush 51% in 2004 and is held by the moonbat Shea-Porter). However, the Democrat holding the seat, Chris Murphy, used to hold an even more Republican state senate seat, and the fact that he defeated Nancy Johnson by a whopping 12% despite being outspent 2:1 makes me think that he will be tough to beat in 2008.
At that time, there were 5 House districts and an at-large. We picked up the Hartford-based 1st in 1956 for only the first time since 1946 with a young Republican named Edwin May (Tom Dodd had vacated the seat to run unsuccessfully against Dubya's grandpa Prescott, and Dodd had succeeded Abe Ribicoff, who by 1954 was elected Governor over John Lodge, Henry's brother). May lost to Emilio Daddario (who is still alive today), and the seat has been Dem since 1958 (although the legendary Ann Uccello, former Conservative Mayor of Hartford, nearly took the open seat in 1970). May last ran against Ribicoff in '68, but lost quite badly.
In the 2nd district, the Dems put up a heavy-hitter with former Governor Chester Bowles, and he took down 5-term incumbent Horace Seely-Brown. Bowles opted not to run for reelection in 1960 and Seely-Brown took back the seat. When Prescott Bush retired in '62 from the Senate, Seely-Brown was the GOP nominee, but lost to Abe Ribicoff, who had taken leave from his Cabinet post to run (as it was, Seely-Brown nearly won the seat, losing by just 51-49%). Of course, when Seely-Brown vacated his seat, the Dems grabbed it and held it until the incumbent Dem died in 1970.
In the New Haven-based 3rd, the 3-term incumbent, Albert Cretella was beaten by Bob Giaimo. Giaimo held it until he retired in 1980 (in 1974, Bob Giaimo's opponent was none other than young Republican and future FReeper BlackElk -- I won't divulge his real name ;-)). The only Democrat since after 1958 to lose the seat was a fella named Joe Lieberman in 1980 when he was beaten by RINO Larry DeNardis.
In the Bridgeport based 4th (the Shays seat today), 4-term incumbent Albert Morano lost to Donald J. Irwin (who is still alive today). Morano, ironically, went to go work as an assistant to Tom Dodd in the Senate ! Irwin was defeated in 1960 for reelection, but won it back again for 2 terms in 1964 and 1966. Lowell Weicker beat him in 1968 and the district has not gone back to the Dems since.
In the 5th district, 6-term incumbent James Patterson lost to John Monagan. Patterson lost a rematch in 1960 and again a decade later in 1970. We didn't recover the seat until Monagan was defeated by Ron Sarasin in 1972.
For the At-Large seat, 6-term GOP incumbent Antoni Sadlak was upset by Frank Kowalski. Because the GOP wasn't able to overcome their overall voting minority, they never reclaimed the seat as an At-Large. In the wake of Baker v. Carr abolishing At-Large districts, the legislature drew a new 6th Congressional seat for the At-Large Dem incumbent in 1964, and he won it. That man, Bernard Grabowski, lost to Conservative GOPer Tom Meskill in 1966 (who would go on to be elected Governor in 1970, and is still a federal judge today).