Fairfield County Weekly - County Fair: According to Jim

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Fairfield County Weekly - County Fair: According to Jim

"I'm not running because Chris Shays is a bad guy," Jim Himes told an audience at the Westport Library. He's running because, "In the last eight years, we have eroded some fundamental American values."

On a latter stop of his Listening and Leading Tour, the former affordable housing exec showed his style as a campaigner. He had a focused but nice-guy approach, addressing the issues with dire language, but declining to rough up his politically vulnerable opponent.

On energy? "People on fixed incomes will freeze in their apartments. This didn't have to happen."

On education? "We are throwing these kids away," Himes said of the 40 percent of Bridgeport high school freshmen who won't graduate.

On healthcare? "The system is built to insure as few people as possible, insure those that don't need [the providers] and give them as few benefits as possible...It's insane."

The 17-stop, district-wide tour has helped Himes hone his skills, says communications director Michael Sachse. Trumbull-where Shays handily beat his opponent by over 2,000 votes in 2006-was the toughest room, says Sachse. Most of the 15 attendees were skeptical Republicans.

("I had as much fun there as anywhere else," Himes told us in an interview after the Westport event. "We need to argue, to compare ideas.")

The Westport stop gathered more than 50 people, and Himes seemed on his game and comfortable, even when he disagreed with an attendee.

"It had to happen," he said succinctly about the Bear Stearns buy-out, blaming the larger economic catastrophe. Himes, a former Goldman Sachs vice president, also showed concern for the executives and investors who'd be caught up in the aftershocks of an "overnight transition" to a single-player healthcare plan.

When asked what made him tough enough to go at it with blazin' Shays, Himes said, among other points, "I don't see my six-year-old or eight-year-old daughter at all anymore"-a response that struck us as both heartfelt and really weird given the question.

(In the post-event interview, Himes elaborated that it's been "painfully hard" for him to spend so much time away from the family but "introducing them to the political process" was a major pro when he was weighing the pros and cons of running.)

Oh, and you might not know this about Jim Himes: He was a first responder on 9/11. A one-time emergency medical technician, Himes joined EMTs treating firefighters and others emerging south of the World Trade Center wreckage. He mentioned this briefly in Westport.

("The experience was very personal," he said later. "I was happy to do something in the face of real terror but I've been hesitant to broadcast it.")

Jim Himes is not the sort of guy who'd Giulianize his 9/11 experience and we're hoping that the 2008-era political landscape isn't so slimy that he has to.

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