The other three candidates in the race Republican incumbent Christopher Shays, Democrat Diane Farrell and Libertarian Phil Maymin are all invited to participate in the two debates, which will take place on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Norwalk Community College and on Oct. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at Wilton High School. Shays and Farrell have agreed to take part in nine other debates, and Maymin has been invited to at least five of those. Duffee expects to participate in two of the debates and is awaiting confirmation on three more.

Duffee believes that every candidate on the ballot should be allowed into the debates presented by the LWV, which describes itself as "a nonpartisan, nonprofit political organization that encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government." By excluding him even though he collected the number of signatures required by the secretary of the state to appear on the ballot, Duffee believes the LWV is introducing bias into the race. "If you're in the debates, you're going to get more votes than if you're not in the debates," Duffee said in a telephone interview last week. "By deciding who to let in and who not to, they're affecting the political process."

On Tuesday, Connecticut LWV Co-President Jara Burnett said she thinks "it's rather flattering" if Duffee thinks the debates "are such a decisive factor wouldn't it be nice if they were?" Although the LWV tries to be inclusive, she said, "it is extremely difficult to have a meaningful debate with four or more candidates."

"It doesn't provide a very good picture of what any candidate stands for. The time that is spent having four people answer the same question it's just a very awkward arrangement and people do not come out of it very well educated." Therefore, she said, the LWV allows only those who have "viable" candidacies into its debates.

Duffee was notified by the LWV on Sept. 18 that he had not shown sufficient evidence of broad voter support or financial support to be invited. According to the Connecticut LWV's Web site, to participate in debates a candidate must demonstrate that he or she has "ballot access in accordance with Connecticut election laws; a formal campaign (headquarters, staff, position papers, campaign appearances); evidence of broad voter support (can be evidenced by number of volunteers); and financial support (contributions from a significant number of contributors indicating broad-based support)." A committee consisting of the Connecticut LWV's two co-presidents, vice president of communications, vice president of voter services and treasurer determines if candidates meet these requirements.

Duffee thinks that the LWV's criteria for determining candidate eligibility are vague and subjective and that a system that clearly outlines the requirements in terms of numbers of volunteers and amounts of funding would be more appropriate and objective.

On Sept. 19, the Connecticut LWV's vice president of voter services, Karen Rosen, acknowledged that the criteria for determining if a candidate's support is "broad" is not specific. Rather, she said, the committee considers each candidate's volunteers and donors and whether they are solely from the candidate's party or others as well and whether they are from just one town or from throughout the district. This, she said, provides a more accurate representation of the candidate's chances in the election than the number of signatures he received to be included on the ballot.

Informed that he could appeal the LWV's decision, Duffee sought to do so last week and learned in an e-mail from Rosen on Sept. 21 at 9:56 p.m. that he had until noon the next day to make his case.

In his appeal, Duffee provided details on the 66 volunteers in his campaign, including place of residence, political party affiliation and campaign activities performed, since Rosen had cited these details as particularly important. Duffee made no amendments to the description of financial contributions received, writing simply, "7 people contributed $810."

In response to Duffee's appeal, Rosen wrote, "After careful consideration, the League of Women Voters of CT has found no evidence that would compel or encourage us to change our original decision that your candidacy does not meet all four of our criteria. We are therefore forced to conclude that you remain ineligible to participate in the League-sponsored debates during the 2006 election." With this rejection of his appeal, Duffee said, he started to question what information the LWV truly considers when it determines a candidate's eligibility.

Shays and Farrell clearly have more volunteer and financial support than Duffee. On Tuesday, Shays' campaign manager, Michael Sohn, reported having more than 700 volunteers, and on Wednesday, Farrell spokeswoman Jan Spiegel reported having around 1,200. According to the Federal Election Commission's Web site, as of June 30 Shays had raised about $2.3 million and Farrell had raised about $1.9 million.

But what about Maymin, the other minor party candidate, who is invited to participate in the debates?

In a phone interview Tuesday, Maymin said his campaign has between 50 and 100 volunteers and has raised approximately $25,000. He also confirmed that he had paid his petitioners to collect the signatures necessary to get his name on the ballot.

Duffee's 66 volunteers come from 11 municipalities in the 4th Congressional District, four upstate towns and one other state. He also has four individuals who volunteer only by telephone or e-mail. Having provided this information on the breadth of his support in his appeal, Duffee said he finds it hard to believe that his volunteer base could be a reason for his exclusion. In addition, Duffee noted, the secretary of the state's Web site reports that as of Oct. 25, 2005, the Green Party had 1,151 members enrolled in Connecticut, while the Libertarian Party had 1,126. According to Duffee, even more notable is that the House of Representatives Office of the Clerk's Web site reports that in the 2004 presidential election, 9,564 votes in Connecticut were cast for the Green Party candidate and only 3,367 for the Libertarian candidate. Because the Green Party is more active in the state than the Libertarians and because he and Maymin have similar numbers of volunteers, Duffee believes Maymin's support outweighs his own in only one category: money.

But Duffee also believes the difference between his $810 and Maymin's $25,000 "is trivial compared to [the amounts raised by] Shays and Farrell," he said in a Sept. 22 e-mail.

Burnett, however, disagrees. "I think there's no question that it would be very difficult to run a district-wide and District 4 is a fairly large congressional district campaign with just $800." She added, "It is feasible to run a campaign on $25,000."

In addition, Burnett said that in judging voter support, the LWV does not just look at a candidate's number of volunteers, their hometowns and party affiliations. The LWV also is looking for signs of an active campaign, she said. "There's significantly more evidence of campaigning on Mr. Maymin's part, at least from what we could see. There were campaign ads in the Greenwich and Stamford papers. There are yard signs. There are bumper stickers, etc." When asked if Duffee had any of those, she said no. "Again, in order to be able to do that, it costs money," she said.

Duffee's campaign also appears to be less organized and active than Maymin's, Burnett said. In his application for the debates, Duffee said he worked primarily out of his home and occasionally conducted larger meetings at Curley's Diner in Stamford. "There's nothing wrong with meeting in a diner, but it's really not a very business-like arrangement," Burnett said. "We are looking at how the whole picture appears. When everything comes together, it either presents a certain picture [of a viable campaign], or it doesn't."

Burnett noted that the LWV's online voter guide provides an alternative way for all candidates to share their views. Duffee, along with the others, has been invited to post information about his campaign and his positions, she said. This way, the LWV is able to inform voters about all the candidates while still keeping the debates small and effective, said Burnett.

Despite the online option, Duffee thinks the LWV is biased against him and in favor of Maymin, not just because the Libertarian has more money in his campaign, but for less obvious reasons as well.

"I think the salient financial difference is that Maymin is a hedge fund manager while I'm presently unemployed," Duffee wrote in the e-mail. He believes this caused the LWV to prefer Maymin in deciding which candidates to allow to debate for two reasons. "They know he has enough money that he can embarrass them if they exclude him, and they feel safe because he's so deeply enmeshed in the financial system of the state that they're not worried he's going to upset anything," he said in a phone interview Monday.

Duffee added, "The rest is made up. That's why the LWVs don't want to have to give an actual account of their decision-making process and don't want to have to reveal the actual numbers behind their decisions. They want to say it's holistic and they take everything into account, because if they show what they have to take into account, it will be apparent that the salient differences are not what they say they are."

A spokesman for the LWV could not be reached to respond to these comments before press time.

The first of the 11 debates in the district is scheduled to take place Wednesday at 1 p.m. at the Stamford Marriott Hotel, 243 Tresser Blvd., following a luncheon hosted by The Business Council of Fairfield County.

Excluding the LWV events, the subsequent debates in which Shays, Farrell and Maymin will participate will take place on Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. at the University of Connecticut Stamford branch, sponsored by the World Affairs Forum; Oct. 11 at 7:30 p.m. at Congregation B'nai Israel in Bridgeport, sponsored by the Jewish Center for Community Services; Oct. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Temple Israel in Westport, sponsored by Temple Israel; and Oct. 16 at 8 p.m. at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at Fairfield University, sponsored by the university.

Duffee is invited to the events at Temple Israel and Fairfield University.

Shays and Farrell will debate each other on Oct. 10 at 8 a.m. at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, sponsored by the Bridgeport Regional Business Council; Oct. 17 at 10 a.m. at the Bridgeport Holiday Inn, sponsored by AARP Connecticut; Oct. 18 at 8 a.m. at the Stamford Marriott Hotel, sponsored by the Stamford Chamber of Commerce; and Oct. 19 at 11:45 a.m. at the Norwalk Inn and Conference Center, sponsored by the Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce and News 12.

On Wednesday, Duffee said he is waiting to hear back about the debates at Congregation B'nai Israel, Housatonic Community College and the Stamford Marriott Hotel.

Lauren Garrison is a staff reporter for the Norwalk Citizen~News, one of the Brooks Community Newspapers.