Connecticut Post, Bridgeport, Hugh Bailey column [Connecticut Post, Bridgeport]

Sept. 28--Dan Debicella would like to be a congressman.

He tried before, running a somewhat close race in the Fourth District in 2010 by presenting himself as a moderate. This is what nearly every Republican in a Democratic-leaning state wants to do, so it's worth looking at what passes for moderation from a Republican with designs on winning an election these days.

A few days ago, he wrote an op-ed where he said a government shutdown is "looming." He presented this information as though this is something that's just going to happen on its own accord, and wasn't on the horizon solely because the party he represents has decided that it's much easier to make threats than to win elections.

He further said the U.S. is "at risk of defaulting on its debts." If only there were some way to avoid that happening -- maybe by holding a simple yes/no vote in Congress, as has happened many times over the years without controversy. In the past, some people have voted against raising the debt ceiling, occasionally, but always with the knowledge that it was a purely symbolic vote. It's only recently that defaulting on our debt is something a major political party has legitimately entertained. To hear Debicella, it's just something that's ambling down the pike in our direction. Who can tell who's to blame?

Later, we get a crucial sense of what a supposed moderate like Dan Debicella considers a compromise. Republicans, he said, have to agree not to potentially wreck the economy by defaulting on the debt, while Democrats have to agree to some arbitrary spending limits and undefined cuts. Everybody gives a little, right?

Of course, a few paragraphs earlier he made clear that he thinks failing to raise the debt ceiling would be disastrous. So he's saying, fellow Republicans, I'm calling on you not to take down the world economy just for spite. Pretty please?

He then proposes a number of meaningless spending plans, cutting the budget 1 percent per year and putting in place a spending cap of 20 percent of gross domestic product. Why 20 percent? Who knows? It's a nice round number. Does a spending limit of 20 percent actually mean anything to anyone? It does not. And forget about specifying what he's interested in cutting.

Let's be clear about why his party is so upset that we find ourselves in shutdown and default mode. The president and other Democrats have committed the unpardonable sin of trying to make sure more people have health insurance, and they did it with a law that passed both houses of Congress more than three years ago. For that, apparently, we must all pay a price.

It's tempting to write this off as the hazards of running as a Republican in a state that only elects Democrats lately. But it's not as though his opponent, Rep. Jim Himes, is above criticism. Debicella, for whatever reason, decides to invent reasons to go after him, charging Himes with not being bipartisan enough.

Debicella did finish respectably in 2010, and he was smart enough to sit out 2012, which had Democratic sweep written all over it, what with the president on the ballot.

But what should we really take from his first attempt? Sure, a Republican came close in a blue state. But not that close. He won 47 percent of the vote. And recall that he was going against a first-term congressman in a seat that had been held by Republicans for decades before that. Also, 2010 was the best year for Republicans in a generation, with Democratic incumbents pummeled across the nation.

You couldn't win in those circumstances and now you want to try again?

Sure thing. A few more of those op-eds ought to do it.

[email protected]; 203-330-6233; http://twitter.com/hughsbailey

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