Connecticut: Scrap over lost seat

The candidates slug it out

By Matthew Wells for BBC News Online in Connecticut

It is the political fight that no-one in this New England state wants to have - least of all the two seasoned campaigners who are slugging it out.

What makes the race for this House of Representatives seat so unusual is that it features two candidates from the two main parties who are already sitting in Congress.

Thanks to its falling population in relation to other states, Connecticut has effectively lost a seat, dropping from six to five. This means that two old districts had to be merged together, and the new boundaries were deliberately drawn to make it a close race.

The 680,000 voters of this new political entity must choose between Republican Congresswoman Nancy Johnson, who has served her state for 20 years in the House, and Democrat Jim Maloney, who has been on Capitol Hill for six.

'Voice lost'

One senior political correspondent covering the clash, Tom Monahan of the local NBC 30 news channel, told me there was already one loser - the state of Connecticut.

"You have the reputations and careers of two hard-working people at stake," he said. "People are starting to realise now that by losing a seat, we lose a voice. They're saying that it simply shouldn't have happened."

There are 435 members of the House, and they are expected to represent their districts but also bring something back in return for all those tax dollars handed up to federal government.

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In effect then, this close and increasingly nasty race is about who will be the best Washington lobbyist - who will get the most "pork-barrel" funding.

Both candidates have extensive records to fall back on, and neither wants to give up their influential seats on Congressional committees which is where representatives get their chance to shine on the national stage.

We have to figure out a way to allow people to have more control over their lives, instead of thinking that every solution involves sending money to Washington, and then try to get as much of it back as we can

Walter Gengarelly

Their clout is demonstrated by the senior party support they have been able to call on. Both former President Bill Clinton, and current Vice President Dick Cheney have come in recent months to stand by their candidate.

This is the first week of serious campaigning, with Congress dissolved, and all the candidates committing to 16-hour days in the run up to polling on 5 November.

Fiery debate

This is exactly the kind of seat which the Democrats should be winning if they are to overturn the Republican's slender six-seat majority.

The entire district is a riot of autumn colours. At the entrance to the Southbury Hilton, the reds and yellows of the trees are compromised by the sudden appearance of young volunteers all cheering and waving blue and white posters for both Johnson and Maloney.

The Maloney camp flag up their man

In a second full-on debate between the two, they meet the other no-hoper candidates: Walter Gengarelly, who calls himself an Independent Libertarian, and Joseph Zdonczyk, from the Concerned Citizens' Party.

They were invited along by the local chamber of commerce to first lunch on cordon-bleu chicken, and then slug it out on stage in a rigorously timed debate format that is more like an intellectual quiz show than an exercise in free speech.

There is no spontaneous question-and-answer session, just eight questions from a four-person panel comprising a health administrator, an attorney, a marketing executive and a man who is president of a cold-rolled steel company.

The topics chosen included health care, retirement plans, and funding for the main highway in the district. But like so much else in America, the real passion surfaced with the economy. Foreign policy and corporate scandal issues were not mentioned by anyone.

Jobs row

Unsurprisingly - given the audience - the fiercest exchanges between Mrs Johnson and Mr Maloney came over jobs, trade and help for small businesses.

Dressed in waspish-yellow and speaking with a raft of statistics on tap, Mrs Johnson said she brought 30,000 more jobs to her district than her chief opponent.

"The trade policy in this country is an abject failure - it's a disaster," retorted the walrus-moustached Mr Maloney, who claimed that the Bush Republicans had cost the state 150,000 manufacturing jobs.

The two main candidates traded their long lists of personal accomplishments in securing federal funds throughout the hour-long session. The most common sentence uttered by both began with the words "I am proud of that fact that Iż"

The other candidates, lacking 26 years-worth of Congressional track record to fall back on, soon began attacking the machinery of party politics and Washington itself.

Voters unsure

"We have to figure out a way to allow people to have more control over their lives, instead of thinking that every solution involves sending money to Washington, and then try to get as much of it back as we can," said Walter Gengarelly.

"The best choice is not to spend so much money there in the first place - leave the money at home."

Mrs Johnson was unrepentant: "I am very proud of the 23 bills that I originated, that have been signed by the president during the six years that Jim and I have served together, as opposed to his one," was one memorable line from her summing up.

She is nudging ahead in the polls, but observers think that many voters have yet to make up their minds. Talking to locals at the Southbury Plaza shopping mall, many voters were not sure if they were even in the newly redrawn 5th district.

The politics is certainly hotting up and the day's real bile was served up outside the debating hall.

Mr Maloney's campaign accused their rivals of beginning a covert telemarketing operation to discredit him. "Going negative" as it is called is a sign of desperation, and Mrs Johnson's people deny it.

With every seat in the House up for grabs and just a few days to go, the flak in closely-fought seats like this one, is only just beginning.