Libertarian candidate Phil Maymin's campaign is starting to generate some "buzz" in Connecticut’s hotly contested Second Congressional District, and the National Journal’s influential "House Race Hotline" is taking note.

Maymin’s bid to oust incumbent Republican Representative Christopher Shays was highlighted recently in his hometown paper, the Greenwich Time,  which recounted Maymin’s American success story: "A Moscow native who immigrated with his family in 1980, the Harvard-educated Maymin and his father, a former mathematics professor, operate a Greenwich hedge fund called Maymin Capital Management LLC."

The "House Race Hotline's" "Veterans to Watch" column featured excerpts from the Greenwich Time under a headline asking "Good News for Farrell?" – referring to Shay's Democratic challenger, Diane Farrell.  The message this mention sent to the political professionals and media insiders that regularly read HRH is that Libertarian Phil Maymin is poised to help unseat the House Republican co-author of the Bi-partisan Campaign Reform Act, the law that stifles political speech and imposes onerous regulations on groups like the Libertarian Party.

This race is one of the most closely watched in the country, as Farrell makes a second try to topple Shays, a feat at which she was nearly successful in 2004.  In this district, which is anchored New York City’s affluent Connecticut suburbs and has been trending Democratic in recent elections, Shays has managed to hold onto his seat by stressing his independent streak.  But on the campaign trail this year, the Congressman is learning the hard way that his constituents aren’t buying that line anymore.  Shays' ardent defense of the War in Iraq and the Patriot Act is proving to be a "tough sell" in a district where President Bush’s approval ratings dwell in the cellar. 

While editors over at "House Race Hotline" wonder how many votes Maymin will snare from previous Shays supporters, he may very well benefit from voters looking for a change who aren’t enthused by Farrell, as well. 

Maymin summed up his appeal to both liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats looking for a new alternative in a profile that ran in the Greenwich Post:

"He insists that the message of his party — government should stay out of people’s lives — is one that should appeal to liberals and conservatives alike.

'Conservatives believe in freedoms,' he said. 'They 100% believe in economic freedom. Then there are questions about social freedoms — what should be done with school and prayer — a lot of issues that, I think, if the conservatives were to really think about it, they would agree it should not be a government decision.'

Democrats, he said, are right in wanting to keep the government out of people’s private lives, but they’re too often willing to redistribute wealth in the form of federal programs — something he’s staunchly against.'"

Wherever Maymin’s votes ultimately come from, insiders are already taking note that in one of 2006’s most watched battles for a U.S. House seat, the Libertarian candidate will be a factor that can’t be ignored.