"We would likely see Sen. Chris Shays. Not ideal, but realistically, that is about the best we can hope for in CT."
If Rell picks any of the three GOP RINO Congressmen, she would risk having the Dems pick up the vacated House seat in a general election. This would be particularly likely in the case of Rob Simmons's CD, which only gave Bush 44.2% of the vote in 2004, but Bush's 46.3% in Shays's CD and 49.0% in Johnson's CD do not exactly project to a certain GOP hold.
Interestingly, then-Gov. Rowland said in early 2001 that if Lieberman had been elected VP he would have probably appointed Nancy Johnson as the new Senator. I agree with Uncledave that she would be less objectionable than über-RINO Chris Shays. Frankly, I don't know who would have the best chance of holding the Senate seat in a 2006 election, but perhaps Gov. Rell could name a non-incumbent, such as former Congressman Gary Franks, as a placeholder and then wait until 2006 for a better candidate to emerge.