Christopher Shays, a 21-year incumbent for the U.S. House of Representatives
in Connecticut, embraced a voter on Tuesday.
(Photo: Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times)
Updated, 9:57 p.m. GREENWICH, Conn. — Representative Christopher Shays, a moderate Republican, lost his House seat on Tuesday evening. Heavy voter turnout by Democrats threw the election to Mr. Shays’s Democratic challenger, Jim Himes.
Here in Greenwich and the other prosperous towns of southwestern Connecticut that were once solidly Republican but have increasingly trended Democratic, most voters interviewed said they were voting for Senator Barack Obama, but some said they planned to vote for Mr. Shays, while others said they would vote down the line for Democratic candidates.
At Greenwich Town Hall, Arthur Shulman, 65, a registered Democrat, brought his 18-year-old son, Andy, to the polls with him. Both planned to vote for Mr. Obama for president and Mr. Shays for Congress. Mr. Shulman said that he counted Mr. Shays as a personal friend and that the congressman was an independent thinker with a strong sense of ethics, although Mr. Shulman said he disagreed with Mr. Shays on the Iraq war.
“It’s more important to vote for a man that you think has integrity and that will vote his conscience, rather than having to agree with his stance on every single issue,” said Mr. Shulman, who is retired from a job in finance.
Andy Shulman, a high school student, said he favored Mr. Shays because of his views on technology. Mr. Shays supports network neutrality, while Mr. Himes is more supportive of efforts to regulate the Internet, the younger Mr. Shulman said.
“It’s an important issue to me, because I’m very involved with the Internet and technology,” Andy Shulman said.
Debra Temoche, 35, an office manager, voted for the first time in 15 years, in Norwalk. She said she voted for Mr. Obama and Mr. Himes. “I think we’ve rammed our heads into the wall long enough. We need a new direction,” she said. “I see the country going into a downward spiral. I wanted to make sure the right people got into office.”
Nathan Covello, 50, a security guard at Greenwich High School, was still undecided about the Congressional race as he headed into the polls. “This is a tough one,” he said of the two candidates. “I like both of them. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I get in there.” He said he liked Mr. Shays’s experience but also Mr. Himes’s promise of a fresh approach.
“I don’t know if I want experience or new blood. The only thing I don’t like about Shays is Bush.”
He said he felt both parties were equally to blame for creating the economic crisis, along with the American people.
Paul Golden, 64, a commercial printing broker, also voted for Mr. Obama and Mr. Himes, although he is a registered Republican and generally votes down the party column. He had voted for Mr. Shays many times, he said, but started voting against him after hearing him “sell” the Iraq war at a town hall meeting in 2003. Mr. Shays — as did President Bush and politicians of both parties who voted to authorize the war in Iraq — said at the time that he believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
“I never believed it,” Mr. Golden said. “I feel the entire administration has put this country in a tailspin that it’s going to take a long time to get out of. Eight years of Bush got us the biggest deficit in history.”
A few Republicans said they were sticking with their party’s candidates.
George Hanna, 56, said he voted in Stamford for Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican nominee, and with Mr. Shays because of their stance on tax cuts and Social Security.
He said the income ceiling for the middle-class tax bracket had been steadily revised downward by the Obama campaign. “It’s the amazing shrinking middle class,” he said, noting the high cost of living here.
“Someone who makes $200,000 a year is decidedly middle-class in this area,” he said.He said the Democratic tax plan would unfairly punish those who earn more and foster dependence on government.
Mr. Hanna said voted for the Libertarian candidate in the Congressional race two years ago, but is a registered Republican.
================================================================
Please send your comments to Greenwich Roundup@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment