It is this year where a political meridian runs through Connecticut, much as a political pole has formed in Ohio. It is these states, which have for so long thought themselves Republican as the places of good sense and hard work, where people are rethinking their relationship to the party of foley fallout, darwin denial, encyclopediac ignorance about the world and everything in it. Voters in both states saw the Democratic Party as the party of turbulence, of too quick and often ill-advised change - and now see that they have been voting for a radical nastiness which is alien to them.

Tasha Tudor wrote about New England's country world, and it is still a world unto itself. In a house of impeccably chosen furniture, artworks old and new, and colonial surroundings, Chris Murphy spoke to one hundred people who carry with them that ethos which says "New England". He is a young man, with a boundless energy that pushes at the boundaries of the walls, and the normally hushed tones found in such rooms.

But he is a man who believes in looking someone in the eye, in speaking his mind and in bringing others along with him, over the next hill, the next challenge. His delivery was rapid fire, as he outlined an indictment against Nancy Johnson as the hand maiden of an administration that is fast, loose and out of control. This is progressivism at the speed of a bebop solo.

And he will need it in his whirwind tour of the district, pledging to do 41 towns in 41 days. Because it is there that the revolt against Republicanism is the rising star.

If you watch political commercials here, you see why Jodi Rell, a Republican, is surging towards victory, while three Republican incumbents in Congress are in deep trouble. Rell plays the grandmother figure, caring and responsive. Meanwhile Johnson, Simmons and Shays are offering snarling attacks and dog in the manger defenses of the nastiest Congress in a century. People are feeling that the world is abrasive, and that it is eroding their hold on the future. Johnson in particular presides over pep rallies for hate, fear and sneering.

Enter Chris Murphy, with a touch of young Irish politician good looks that offers echos of one of America's well known political dynasties - and a demeanor that alternates between concise indictment, and repose as he listens to constiuents. This combination, that he can be both complete absorbed in paying attention, and in then persuasive in articulating the hopes and fears of those who he has listened to - has proven to be political dynamite at the base of a dam. A dam that holds in all the pent up frustrations and dashed hopes of three generations of Americans.

In this room, on this evening, he is talking to people who have done, by and large, well. They are not dispossessed or disruptive by nature, and yet, they are disturbed and upset. George Bush does not preside over the America that they are part of. Torture is a word that I have heard more than once from people - their America does not need to torture. It conflicts with their self-image as people who played the game better than other people, and if they have done better, then it is because they were smarter, harder working, more adventurous. One person their spoke in glowing terms about how his daughter was on Mt. Kilamanjaro - another attendee was a famous film director who has a brilliant film project that he wants to pursue (and if any studio has the sense they will pick up Milos Forman's film post haste, he has found the perfect vehicle to encompass our age).

But the ur-topic is Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. And North Korea.

And it is here that Chris Murphy strikes the perfect balance between restrained passion and unrestrained intelligence. He outlines the obvious reasons why going to Iraq was always destined to be a failure, why this executive was the wrong executive to go there in any event, and why the next Congress must show "the people taking back the levers of power" and "asking hard questions and demanding honest answers". He captures an almost religious sense of moral justice - almost implying that the price of folly in Iraq, is facing the fate of a nuclear armed North Korea.

Someone attempting to merely ride a tide into Congress would have stopped there, or repeated variations on the theme - the audience had bottomless appetite for it - however, Chris Murphy is a young man, and he sees Iraq as merely the first hill in a long series of hills. He is determined to face the next challenge, and the one after that, and to bring others along with him. In a word, it is leadership, not in the stern faced manner of a sergeant, but exuding a confidence that in this moment, we must go forward and face he future.

He is tapping into the second deep desire in this audience - that of universal health care, he turns the corner from Iraq, to the unfinished business of American government. Iraq is not merely wrong for what it is, but for what it has wasted, what it has cost. When he states that "I believe that to be healthy is a right, not a privilege" there is a moment of rapt silence, and he gives the audience one of the few pauses of the evening.

There is no substitute for working a room, of allowing people to come to the candidate and express their praise or concern. If the Democratic Party wants people to trust it with the power of government, and wants people to trust government to use its power for the people, then it must have people in government who radiate trustworthiness and genuine human concern.

There are short term flings of election resources - to push a marginal district from one column to another, or a last minute ad blitz - and then there are long term investments. Chris Murphy offers a chance, not merely to take a district, but to push forward the process of realignment. Last night's meeting was in a town that, 15 years ago, you would have been hard pressed to find 2 democrats to rub together. The sense among the people there is that, while many are not yet Democrats, they are no longer Republicans. Send Murphy to congress, and they will be pulling the lever for a Democrat for a long time to come.

Connecticut is a state in transition, it has elected Republican governors, and is quite possibly going to reelct Senator Joe Lieberman who is running ads talking about how proud he is that he sent young men to be maimed for his career and George Bush's reëlection. On the other hand, Iraq is proving to be the corrosive issue that Shays, Simmons and Johnson - three old craggy rocks in the Republican wall - cannot withstand. Murphy, by striking the right chord - balancing the electorates own disdain for an executive that does not seem to be able to execute, and desire for a better America - seems to be almost the perfect vehicle for a late push of resources.

And it will not stop there. Chris Murphy has the makings of a future member of the house leadership - the kind of individual who can build coalitions, use bread and butter issues such as medical care and wages - to draw people who are not part of his party into the push for some specific reform or some specific improvment. He has the ability to be the center of a room filled with successful people, proud people, accomplished people - and lead them forward, without for a single instant seeming to feel himself above them. Indeed, his remarks are peppered with thanks for people who have helped him thus far, for people who have given advice, or joined the campaign team. If Joe Lieberman never forgets or forgives a slight - then Chris Murphy is precisely the opposite - never failing to recall a favor, and never failing to be public in his thanks for having the good fortune to find so many friends on the campaign trail.

At the end of the evening, it was one of his supporters who said it best to an attendee who was wavering - "Send this man to Washington if you want to change the tone."