Duffee said the committee recently did agree that "there is energy to run" against Republican incumbent Christopher Shays.

Duffee's campaign manager, Paul Bassler of Norwalk, said some committee members were concerned the party would spread itself too thin with a run for Congress. However, Bassler believes "a local candidate energizes those areas and brings out more support" for statewide Green Party races.

At the party's Fairfield County nominating meeting July 11 in Norwalk, Duffee received 19 of the 22 votes cast. However, to get his name on the ballot, Duffee and his volunteer campaign workers must collect at least 2,909 signatures by Aug. 9. To ensure that enough qualifying signatures are amassed, Bassler said their goal is to collect 5,000.

The Green Party's nominees at the state level are Robin Schafer for lieutenant governor, Colin D. Bennett for comptroller, David Bue for treasurer, Nancy Burton for attorney general, and Mike DeRosa for secretary of the state.

Ralph A. Ferrucci is the Green Party's candidate for U.S. Senate.

Campaign strategies for a third-party candidate are not that different from those for a mainstream Republican or Democratic contender, according to Bassler. He said he'll work "to get Richard in front of groups and associations" and included in any debates that may be scheduled between Shays and his Democratic challenger, Diane Farrell of Westport.

Duffee is a former teacher who also has a law degree. He's lived in Stamford for about a year and is "just doing this now," he said, referring to his candidacy. "This is very absorbing," he added.

The candidate said he's been "interested in the Green Party for a long time," going back to the early 1980s, when he worked on environmental issues in the Hudson Valley. This campaign is Duffee's second, having run in the 1990s for the school board in Peekskill, N.Y., where he lost by 35 votes, he said.

Duffee pointed to his Web site, www. duffee.politicalgateway.com, to explain his platform for the race. His top five priorities are nuclear disarmament; the halting and reversal of the greenhouse effect; massive United Nations reform, including democratic reform of the Bretton Woods Institutions; the abolition of absolute poverty; and reductions in the levels of disparity of income to what they were in the 1940s and '50s.

Duffee has raised some funds for his candidacy, but nothing like his opponents. Duffee said he has $400 on hand, having spent $200 of a total $600 raised.

In comparison, Shays reported to the Federal Election Commission on Saturday that his campaign had raised $2.3 million through June 30 and had $1.5 million on hand.

Farrell's campaign finance report to the FEC shows she had raised $1.8 million through June 30 and had $1.3 million on hand.

Greenwich Libertarian Phil Maymin also is petitioning to be placed on the ballot for the 4th District race.