TF2

Could Chris Shay's days in Congress be coming to an end? Recent polls have the incumbent of our 4th district down 46%-41% in a re-match with his '04 challenger, Diane Farrell. Experts agree that it's the war that's dragging Rep. Shays down in the polls. However, Shay's stance on the war appears to be more anti-war than his challenger's. In August, after his 14th visit to Iraq, Rep. Shays stated that he now believed that the United States should set a time table for withdrawl. In looking at Ms. Farrell's campaign website, their is no mention of a timed withdrawl from Iraq. Miss Farrell does mention the need for a "timely war funding plan" and asserts the need to "alleviate the pressure on our strained combat forces." In fact, Miss Farrell suggests that our forces use "achievement bench-marks, rather than dates" to determine when to pull out of Iraq.
In looking at both candidates stances on this issue, it would seem that Miss Farrell is more hawkish and responsible than her "conservative" counterpart. thefederalist is not suggesting that Representative Shays recently changed his position on the war in Iraq to gain back lost support in the polls. It would be interesting to ask the Rep. Shays if he would have supported the Kerry/Feingold Ammendment to set a timed withdrawl of US forces had it passed the Senate and been brought to the floor of the House. I have heard Miss Farrell say that she was not a supporter of the Kerry/Feingold plan. It only seems consistent with Mr. Shay's new-found convictions that he would in fact have stood by the 2004 presidential nominee of the Democratic party given the opportunity.
Mr. Shays is always reminding the electorate that he is the chairman of the House Subcommittee on National Security. It may sound crazy, but I'm starting to believe that his challenger from Westport is more suited for this position.