Posted on 08/22/2011 10:04:32 AM PDT by markomalley
Former Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) will run for the Senate, according to Greenwich Time, a local newspaper.
Shays, who had sold his home in Connecticut and moved to Maryland after he was defeated by Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) in 2008, has moved back to the Nutmeg State with his wife Betsi and recently re-registered to vote in the state.
"Betsi and I [are] excited to be back in Connecticut," Shays told the newspaper. "These are all the steps that I am taking so that I can have the opportunity to run for Senate. I hope to be on the ballot next November."
The seat is open: Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) has decide to retire. The state is strongly Democratic and has not had a Republican senator since 1988, although moderate Republicans have run well there and the state had a Republican governor from 2004 through 2010.
Shays will likely face former World Wrestling Emporium CEO Linda McMahon, who lost a 2010 Senate race, in a Republican primary. McMahon spent $50 million on that race only to lose to now-Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) by a 12-point margin.
The Democratic field is as yet unsettled. Candidates include former Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz, Rep. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and state Rep. William Tong.
He was the Republican driving force behind the Brady Bill and he supports reviving the Assault Weapons Ban. He’s also a pro-abort, pro-homosexual Congressperson who voted to give the federal government the tools to took away my right to play online poker in 2006. He sucks in every respect of the word. Sounds like he’s perfect for Connecticut.
So are either Shays or McMahon a conservative or are they RINOS? I live in Florida I am just asking.
Freegards,
Lex
ugh. I put this in the same category as Castle in DE. I’d rather take a more conservative candidate in the primary, even with a lesser chance of winning the general. We do not need CT to get a decent Senate majority, and another loser moderate will do more harm than good.
Sounds like a true Connecticut a-hole! He’s perfect for them.
Shays is an extreme RINO. McMahon is a more moderate RINO. Both are pro-abortion and pro-gay. McMahon received an A rating from the NRA for her responses to the questionnaire, however. Shays received an F. Shays was also behind the campaign finance reform law. While people are under the mistaken belief that it was McCain and Feingold’s campaign finance bill that passed Congress, it was actually the House version of it that passed (sponsored by Shays and Meehan), and not the Senate version. Given all of these facts, McMahon is preferable to Shays. If I were in Connecticut, I’d vote for her over him.
I’d like to see a credible conservative in this race. I worked in CT for a while and it didn’t seem nearly as solid blue as it has voted. What CT needs is someone who isn’t a gadfly conservative. Someone like Gov Don Caceri was in RI. Conservatives can win in the NE the problem usually is finding a quality one that will run. Its tough when you are a minority party. Someone with a solid background in military or business, a self made man or woman who also isn’t ashamed of their conservatism. Chris Shay’s isn’t that person unfortunately. I had my hopes for Peter Schiff last time but unfortunately he wasn’t willing to spend the money like McMahnon to win the primary.
Vote conservative in the primary to defeat the RINOs. Vote republican in the general to defeat the democrats.
Shay, if he wins the primary and gets elected in the general, would (hopefully) vote republican to organize the Senate. He would NOT be a reliable vote for conservative issues, however, so it falls upon the rest of us to elect enough republican senators so that his vote doesn't often matter.
RINO to replace DINO. It’s hard to care
Shays as a republican is more dangerious then having a liberal democrat.....and that says alot.
I’m sure Shays would fall right into line with the establishment Republicans when it comes to supporting crap like TARP. He is a reliable drug warrior who thinks that the federal government has the right to invade sovereign states and enforce drug laws, yet finds some invisible penumbra in the constitution that somehow justifies Roe v. Wade and legalized abortion-on-demand in all 50 states. He is just about the worst representative for Republican values and ideas you could think of. He is a nanny-statist who is literally in the pocket of big business. I’m a capitalist— he is a corporatist shill. I think he must have developed carpal tunnel syndrome by now, from all of his reaches across the aisle.
Why can’t these asshats ever retire gracefully?
Enjoy the utopia they help create.
As a very liberal "rino" republican Shays will take the republican party to the progressives. He is an eloquent speaker who can attract an audience and national following. His local politics will pander to Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford with their welfare immigrant populous. In power, he will suck up to the Sunday talking heads as some kind of authority. Shays is another "ruling class" problem.
Peter Schiff didn’t really want to be a Senator, but he was willing to run to try to stop big government. I wonder if he has another run in him. Let’s hope so.
Shay was only Republican after reviewing the evidence in Clinton’s impeachment refused to vote for impeachment. This included 5 Democrats who reviewed the data and voter for impeachment.
Shays revisited. McMahon had her chance against a horrid Dem candidate and couldn’t win.
Shay is rino’s RINO. Lieberman the dem was more conservative. Shay began as a fiscal hawk in 1988 but through the 90’s was seduced by Clinton. Shays wife got a six figure job from Clinton so Shay would not vote for impeachment. after 9-11 Lieberman pushed for the TSA, Shay suppored him.
McMahon & her husband brought WWE from bankrupcy and made it what it is today. Bumenthal pretended to be a poor boy but his wife’s family RE money is more than McMahon wealth. She talked fiscal conservativeism and socally liberal because the state is so liberal. In the primary, she beat Peter Schiff easily but he kept sniping at her.
have known the all up close and personnal
“and the state had a Republican governor from 2004 through 2010”
In CT, our bench is totally empty; the only candidates with the background to be elected to the Senate from CT are RINOs (Shays, Simmons, Rell, etc.), so we might as well let Shays run. I wouldn’t give the guy a dime, but I also think it would be foolish to get all riled up and waste time and money in nominating someone only marginally better than Shays, for what will be longshot odds of winning in November. Conservatives might as well sit out the CT Senate race altogether and concentrate on electing Justin Bernier in the open-seat CT-05 (the least liberal CD in the state), a moderate-to-conservative Republican in CT-04 and maybe one in CT-02.
Well said. If Shays wins - whatever, if he loses - whatever.
Same as how I feel about Brown here in MA...whatever.
You should care because regardless of Shays’ voting record, his election would bring us closer to a majority in the Senate and without the majority Reid is in control of everything.
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