Joe Lieberman was so 2005. But Rep. Christopher Shays is also from Connecticut. Is there a pattern developing here?

Shays, a Republican who expects the usual tough re-election fight (it’s Connecticut, after all), got up close and personal with the president last night before Bush’s State of the Union address.

“It is what it is,” said Shays spokesman Dave Natonski.

It is indeed. See below …

With “the kiss” dogging him for months, Lieberman defied Democratic party leaders and ran as an independent (after losing his own primary) in November 2006 to hold his seat.

He remains an independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats, though he is campaigning for GOP presidential candidate John McCain.

Christopher Shays, who has survived fierce challenges in recent years, is already preparing for another difficult re-election effort.

Jim Himes, a Greenwich, Conn., Democrat who will be seeking Chris Shays’ House seat, said Shays’ kiss was not just a kiss.

“Pardon the pun, but as cheeky as it was, it does indicate the alignment of Chris Shays with failed policies of George Bush,” Himes said Tuesday.