{news} New London Day on Scott Deshefy; debate tonight in Lyme

[David Bedell]

http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=7b33402f-30b1-45ae-9d2b-6aaac911b8b0

Sullivan, Deshefy Are Still Chasing Courtney As 2nd District Candidates Gear
Up For Debate

By Ted Mann     Published on 10/28/2008

Sean Sullivan, the Republican Congressional candidate, had just arrived at
the gate of Electric Boat on a recent afternoon, flanked by volunteers with
big blue "Sullivan" signs, when a worker on his way into the submarine yard
reached over to shake his hand.

"I voted for you last time, too," the man said, then passed through a gate
in the fence.

Sullivan - who will debate his opponents, Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District,
and G. Scott Deshefy tonight at Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School - only chuckled
and shrugged at what was an obvious, if seemingly benign, untruth.

The Gales Ferry attorney and former submarine commander has never so much as
run for school board, let alone the U.S. Congress.

Sullivan's campaign looked promising at the outset primarily because of his
resume: As the retired commander of the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, the
Republican would use his own military background to make the case he is
better prepared to protect the 2nd District's major military installation,
and by extension, Electric Boat.

But he has struggled in fundraising, taking in less than $385,000 compared
to Courtney's $2.2 million.

And in the final weeks of this contest, Sullivan is increasingly waging a
battle against Courtney on more philosophic grounds, arguing that the
federal government should have a far less extensive role in the world at
large and in communities close to home.

In a debate last week at Enrico Fermi High School in Enfield, Sullivan
called for the transformation of the No Child Left Behind education program
into a "No Strings Attached" plan - to bring federal revenue to this state's
education system without federal mandates on its use.

He has expressed similar views about restricting the reach and expansion of
government on a variety of topics, separating himself from both his opponent
and his party's unpopular president. Sullivan has said invading Iraq was a
mistake and condemned the "nation-building" exercise of power under
President Bush. And in the same debate last week, he even poked fun at
another struggling Republican - Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the
presidential nominee - who responded to hostilities between Russia and
Georgia by declaring, "We are all Georgians."

"I do not believe we should be rushing in to support one side or the other
in any of these conflicts," Sullivan said. "I am not a Georgian. I come from
Connecticut."

Sullivan has also tried to push the debate toward the topic of energy
infrastructure, where he feels Congress and Courtney have been lacking.

First candidate from Green Party

G. Scott Deshefy faced a higher hurdle just to get into the race.

Deshefy, the first Green Party candidate to qualify in a 2nd District
Congressional contest, walked the neighborhoods of this sprawling eastern
Connecticut territory and estimates he met almost 15,000 voters in the
course of assembling the petitions that got him his place on the ballot.

"That's something that my two major party competitors have not and probably
would not have done even if they were put to the task as I was," Deshefy
said in a phone interview.

He has charged that despite vigorous partisan conflict, little separates
Courtney and Sullivan or their respective parties.

"If somebody asked, 'Well, what does the Democratic Party represent in this
election or what does the Republican Party represent?' ... it's very
ambiguous," he said.

By contrast, Deshefy has called for distinctly populist solutions to the
current financial crisis - letting "natural selection take over" in the
collapse of over-leveraged banks and hedge funds - and using a tax on
corporate profits to pay for the cost of steadying the home-lending markets.
And he unabashedly supports a move to "universal, single-payer health
insurance," while Courtney and Sullivan back the general outlines put
forward by their parties' respective presidential nominees, Sen. Barack
Obama of Illinois and McCain.

Even on the controversial issue of Iraq, where Courtney and Sullivan have
both supported reductions in troop levels, Deshefy says only the Greens are
talking about a true break from current policy.

"First of all, the Green Party and I are in favor not only of getting troops
out of Iraq within 10 months, but also getting our corporate interests out
of Iraq," he said. "The other candidates simply aren't going to touch that
issue."

Smooth campaign for Courtney

The congressman from the 2nd District has come a long way since Nov. 28,
2006, the date Secretary of the State Susan L. Bysiewicz certified his
83-vote margin of victory over Rob Simmons after a district-wide recount.

Courtney thus began his Congressional career as an immediately vulnerable
incumbent, but has had a relatively smooth campaign. His fundraising has
enabled a last-minute push of positive TV advertising, and a major
procedural victory - the adjustment by one year of the scheduled beginning
of increased production of Virginia-class submarines - has helped disarm the
issue of defense spending and protecting the sub base, notwithstanding
Sullivan's argument that the new funding has yet to stimulate jobs in
Groton.

Courtney's campaign has also highlighted his opposition, twice, to the
proposed federal bailout of the financial sector, and efforts to provide
greater funding for education.

As the final week of the campaign approached, Courtney was back in
Washington on Friday, sitting in on hearings on a possible second stimulus
package for the economy - an area where Democrat and Republican actually
come close to agreement. Both have called for investments in infrastructure
to create jobs and keep families afloat.