(Cross-posted from the Himes blog. I am the Online Communications Director for Jim Himes for Congress)

The Himes campaign released its July Quarterly fundraising numbers yesterday. Here's the press release:

Despite the hot and humid weather, hundreds of supporters joined Orange-to-Blue candidate Jim Himes yesterday for all or part of the 22-mile walk across the Fourth Congressional district from Greenwich to Bridgeport. Here are some more of the sights and sounds of the day (see part 1 here) - including a few words from DFA Chair Jim Dean at the stop in Fairfield:

Elected officials, bloggers, and reporters all joined the walk for stretches as well. The Greenwich Time was along for the start of the walk:

(I am the Online Communications Director for Jim Himes for Congress.)

Here in Connecticut, we're just about halfway through with Orange-to-Blue candidate Jim Himes' day-long, 22-mile, "Walk in a New Direction" from Greenwich to Bridgeport, and I just popped in our Norwalk office to upload some sights and sounds. Here's Jim at a stop this morning talking about why we're all walking 22 miles in the blazing sun today:

Contribute here to help us reach our goal of $22,000 online before the end of the quarter Monday night!

As DavidNYC noted in his Orange-to-Blue endorsement post of Jim Himes yesterday, Chris Shays has a history of pretending to be a "moderate" while voting again and again for Bush's policies.

This morning, Shays joined many in both parties in Congress by standing with Bush again on the FISA "compromise".

In fact, Chris Shays has been busy doing his best impersonation of a Blue Dog all week, voting for the war supplemental without timelines that passed yesterday before voting for the for the disastrous FISA bill that passed today.

(Cross-posted from My Left Nutmeg.)

Yesterday afternoon, in accepting his nomination for a potential 12th term representing the Fourth Congressional District of Connecticut, Chris Shays sounded a favorite attack theme of his against the Democratic party:

Shays had harsher words for Democrats. Liberal activists, he said are even more divisive.

"Though Democrats speak urgently of the challenges we face, their leaders obstruct and delay," he said.

On Air Force Malaria One (for more info on Bush's taxpayer-funded campaign trip to Henry Kissinger's estate in northwest CT today, see the NYT today):

Courant Photo Credit: President George W. Bush departs Air Force One at the Connecticut Air National Guard Base at Bradley International Airport. Bush is visiting Connecticut to speak at the Northwest Boys and Girls Club in Hartford before attending a fundraising event in Kent. (BOB MACDONNELL / April 25, 2008)

CT bloggers are fighting back today. Join them.

(Disclosure: I proudly work for Jim Himes.)

As New Hampshire Republicans - unsatisfied with their terribly flawed candidates - start to glumly trickle into their voting booths today, a few may recall having seen Connecticut Congressman Chris Shays barnstorming around their state for the past week in support of John McCain.

This sight must have been particularly jarring: the former member of the Peace Corps, proudly displaying a reminder of that episode of his past life, while fighting for a candidate who wants a permanent American troop presence of Iraq:

In response to this excellent 80's inspired piece (above), let's not forget about the other Connecticut Congresscritter who has been up in New Hampshire the past few days working to help elect Sen. We're-Never-Leaving-Iraq. (No, he's not McCain's "own personal Chuck Norris", but I guess he works as a stand-in in a pinch.)

Help make 2008 Chris Shays' retirement year. Make a last minute contribution here and help Jim Himes reach his goal of 500 contributions for the quarter!

And join Jim for a live chat TODAY at 11:30am ET at My Left Nutmeg.

It's been a long, hard slog of a year for Chris Shays, who began 2007 in the minority as the only remaining Republican from New England, and is ending it more out of touch than ever.

From verbally assaulting Capitol Hill police officers and constituents alike, to articulating increasingly incoherent positions on Iraq, to threatening to retire, it's been quite the show.

Read more below the fold... then send a message to Shays by contributing today.

Help make 2008 Chris Shays' retirement year. Make a last minute contribution here and help Jim Himes reach his goal of 500 contributions for the quarter!

And join Jim for two livechats in the coming days: tomorrow, Saturday at 2pm ET at Firedoglake, and Monday at 11:30am ET at My Left Nutmeg.

It's been a long, hard slog of a year for Chris Shays, who began 2007 in the minority as the only remaining Republican from New England, and is ending it more out of touch than ever.

From verbally assaulting Capitol Hill police officers and constituents alike, to articulating increasingly incoherent positions on Iraq, to threatening to retire, it's been quite the show.

Read more below the fold... then send a message to Shays by contributing today.

Number two pencils are being sharpened, references are being studied, and the final preparations are being made for tonight's battle of the wits and minds in support of Jim Himes for Congress in CT-04.

I promise tonight's event will be a lot of fun. So if you're anywhere near Bridgeport, CT, come on down and join us, any time you can make it (although the quiz will start at 7:30pm ET sharp):

Chris Shays (CT-04) has been in office for two long (too long) decades.

Over that time, he's had the opportunity to question countless witnesses in Congressional hearings - questionable, criminal, devious, and laughable characters ranging from Brownie to Rummy to Wolfie.

The other day, he gave an interview to a major national website. And guess who he told them had exhibited the "worst behavior" he's seen in Congress over all those years?

Blackwater USA™: Your One Stop Shopping Source For All Your War Profiteering and Paramilitary Needs... now with Espionage! (h/t Turkana):

The Prince Group, the holding company that owns Blackwater Worldwide, has been building an operation that will sniff out intelligence about natural disasters, business-friendly governments, overseas regulations and global political developments for clients in industry and government.

This is getting ridiculous. What will we learn next, that Blackwater might have illegally smuggled weapons into Iraq that ended up in the hands of insurgents? (Oh, wait.)

Well, regardless, perception is reality, and Blackwater's PR shop - including Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) - has got to start doing a better job. Just look at these recent headlines and comments:

(Cross-posted from My Left Nutmeg.)

Chris Shays, 10/25/07: "I have served on this committee for 20 years. And everything this committee has done since we've gone into Iraq - and this last year in particular - has been to try to point out everything bad that is going on."

Here's the photo of the week, from the Connecticut Post (get the full story from Bushman himself):

He was greeting Sen. Lieberman at the fundraiser the Senator was holding for the Republican mayor of Milford, CT. With only two weeks to go until election day, now's our chance to support the Democrat in the race, Kerri Rowland:

More on this race below the fold...

My Left Nutmeg is broadcasting live right now (if with spotty audio) from Stamford, where DavidNYC and bloggers from Swing State Project, MyDD, CT Local Politics, and elsewhere are competing to raise some end-of-quarter support to help finally defeat Chris Shays:

Help us reach our goal of 50 Donors via actblue tonight!

(Cross-posted from My Left Nutmeg.)

In January 2003, after the sickening "9/11-exploitation, Iraq War Resolution, Homeland Security department, Max Cleland-smearing, Wellstone plane crash, D.C. sniper paranoia" midterm successes for the GOP, Chris Shays was in line to chair the Government Reform committee in the House. But he was passed over by DeLay and Hastert in an act of payback for his role in passing campaign finance legislation. As David Lightman explained the situation in a Hartford Courant article from December 2002:

It's exceedingly elitist for a candidate who has expressed some interest in the Democratic party's nomination for Senate to state for the record that if he decides not to run, he will donate to the Republican candidate, but then again Bob Kerrey is an exceedingly elitist type of guy:

Mr. Kerrey has made it known that he might be interested in running for the Senate seat in Nebraska should Chuck Hagel, a Republican, not seek re-election — and Democratic leaders have made it clear that they would like Mr. Kerrey to run. Mr. Kerrey, in an interview yesterday, said it was unlikely but not impossible.

"At the moment," he said, "I don’t think I’m going to run. But these moments don’t happen very often. It’s a possibility."

Unless Mr. Hagel seeks another term. "If Hagel runs, not only would I not run, I would write him a check," Mr. Kerrey said.