Kudos to Dan Winslow and Gabriel Gomez, the two Republicans in this state willing to join the race for US Senate.
Apparently willing, anyway.
SCOT LEHIGH
SCOT LEHIGH
Kudos to Dan Winslow and Gabriel Gomez, the two Republicans in this state willing to join the race for US Senate.
Apparently willing, anyway.
Comments
And the globe will promptly swat them down.
Just fyi, we endorsed Tisei and Mary Z.
So the Globe will only endorse Republicans if they are running against candidates who have ethical issues.
Scot - you wrote a well reasoned down the middle column describing the type of political dialogue Massachusetts needs. That's the good part that your critics will probably not acknowledge, but the most relevant item was on Brown and what he COULD have done while in office. It's the national Republicans that are still the problem - did you listen to Cantor's fake bipartisan diatribe yesterday? Massachusetts should not help the national frauds in any way shape or form and all the NY/NJ Republicans given the shaft by their "brother Republicans" regarding Sandy aid should turn Democratic to show the conservatives the future if they remain reactionary in their hatred of the Northeast.
Thank you, LC
Agreed, Scot and LC..."Massachusetts is a place where smart, credible Republican candidates regularly go down to defeat for reasons that are both frustrating and hard to remedy." You couldn't have said it any better, Scot...I think, LC, your reasoning is dead on... There's a reason why folks in this state just pull the lever next to the "D", most without even knowing the candidate...
The people of the sixth district made their choice openly and after listening to the torrent of campaign messages from both sides. Apparently they did not find Mr. Tisei with a lackluster legislative record compelling. As for Ms. Bump she is an effective auditor and shows that the people's sense was correct. It is hard to figure why Mr. Lehigh thinks the opposition to these candidates was "compelling." As for the present crop of Republicans to enter the race for Senate, neither embraces the direction of the current President, someone who won Massachusetts by over 20 points. Mr. Gomez, himself, let loose with a misinformed tirade against the President on his actions in the Bin Laden affair. Mr. Winslow on the other hand is a deficit hawk and a slasher of programs that support people down on their luck, again not the solution this country needs at this time. Just having warm bodies so a race looks decent does not fill the bill for true choices and dialog that improves the lot of the nation.
Understand that running in a special election right now is really name recognition for the future. The more popular GOP members are sitting out because they don't need to do research into whether it is viable to run or not. The results of the last election was proof enough that there is such a disdain for the GOP in this state that a college professor who will likely go one-term, can beat a person with life experience outside of the academic, sychophant environment, simply because she had a "D" next to her name. However, now that Kennedy and Kerry are both gone, the field is wide open for the popular election a few years from now. So why not get your name out there?
Richard Tisei would have won if a third-party candidate hadn't taken 16,000 votes in a race that Tisei lost by a few thousand. Most editorial writers, including the Globe's, supported him. Can't blame him for passing up this short-period race for what I hope will be another run for Congress in 2014. I hear the libertarian spoiler may be running now for the Senate seat; if Dan Winslow or others mentioned here do get in the race, I'm hoping that the libertarian will compete in the Republican primary this time instead of just helping to elect the Democrat.
It is a shame that Scot feels the need to revisit the recent Sixth District race especially after Mr. Tisei’s resounding victory over the Eremian brothers. Perhaps if Mr. Tisei and the Globe had run their campaigns against Mr. Tierney the outcome would have been different. But what would the issues have been? For instance, on Saturday Congressman Tierney and DA John Blodgett are holding an open meeting in Lynn on gun violence prevention. Not on Fox News. Not via press release. As a parent and grandparent it is gratifying to see these elected officials come into the community and seek the opinions of their constituents on these issues. Lobbyists for gun manufacturers or front groups like the NRA seem to get most of the coverage while average people have to depend on Tierney and Blodgett to talk to them and represent their interests. It would be refreshing if Mr. Winslow disavowed the positions that earned him a 100% approval from assault weapons advocates and manufacturers but I am afraid that he will have to depend on them for money. Too bad.
Massachusetts is a political wasteland, rife with institutional corruption and over-taxation. The irony is that the movement to remove tyrannical government began here, only to be replaced with a different form of one-party tyrannical government. No wonder we are a National embarrassment across the Country.
Hmmm. This is overwrought, I think. We are a state that measures up quite well nationally. And you can't a results voters choose tyranny. That said, I do think Massachusetts would benefit from two-party competition.
We are number one in most educational rankings, fewest gun deaths per thousand, have lower unemployment than the national average...so why don't you move to Mississippi, Alabama, or Texas and have all the freedom you can stomach?
Scot, spoken like a Democrat voter. But what about representation for Republicans? Most of us have voted for very few winning candidates in a lifetime. This is not good. You need not look further than the last Senate election. Senator Brown, hardly a Republican by any conservative measure, was deemed by the Globe, and the voters, to be unworthy of re-election despite his bipartisanship. What made Warren, an inexperieced and flawed candidate, any better for Massachusetts beyond her Party affiliation. I am calling hypocrisy!
Why is it that blaim for the severe shortage of half decent Republican candidates in this state is so rarely apportioned to the Mass GOP? Yes, the state party has been largely abandoned by both the voters and their national party, but I can't see that they've done very much to remedy the situation.
You know, I'm someone who like Bill Weld very much. I started out open-minded about Scott Brown, but I have to say, over the course of time, I found myself increasingly skeptical. He's just not a leader. He's scared of his own shadow, he wanted to duck all the difficult issues, or at very least, wait until the last minute to decide where he'd be on them, and given his opposition to any sort of filibuster reform, he wasn't even open to improving the broken chamber he served in. As a sidelight, I give John McCain credit for saying that even though he will vote against Chuck Hagel, he won't filibuster that nomination. That, really, is the way the Senate should work.
This Lehigh guy sometimes plays at opinionating. . . like in this case. These Winslow and Gomez guys may be swell fellows, but as candidates for the U.S. Senate? They have only a month or so gather 10,000 signatures to get their names on a ballot. Winslow was on Channel 2's "Greater Boston" with Emily Rooney on Tuesday, Feb. 5. He came across as a guy trying to impress his girl friend with a pipedream that includes high political office. He said his views may form, he has a committee exploring, etc. etc.: in other words a nonentity who thinks he might run for Senate someday. About Gomez, who knows. The Republican party, state branch, headed by some woman close to former Sen. Scott Brown, ought to grateful to these two guys for being silly enough to go public with their dreams of joining the likes of Henry Cabot Lodge and Leverett Saltonstall. But it might be better if Winslow worried more about the Deville Patrick tax increase loads on Middle Class taxpayers than about getting media attention that will keep him all fluffed up for about a week.
I don't know Gomez, but I actually think Winslow would be a very good candidate. He's smart, likable, and imaginative. And honestly, it's not as though either Ed Markey or Steve Lynch is a giant. Markey has a pretty good record, but he's hyper-cautious, and we have yet to see how he'll be as a campaigner.
If the GOP follows Scot's exhortation to help collect signatures, a viable Republican candidate can get on the ballot for this special election. If I could pick anyone in the state to be my Senator, it would be Dan Winslow, who has integrity, imagination, and the need to serve that had him leave a secure position as judge to become one of our best state representatives. Voters will be lucky to get to know him.
Scot, I am sorry but your esponse just does not measure up. Warren was Washngton's candidated foisted upon Massachusetts despite her lack of experience and questionable ancestral claims. Conversely, Brown, despite his flaws, was a person who had actually made his way through the chairs of State government. He should have been promoted as having earned an opportunity to serve a full term without the sceptre of an immediate re-election facing him. This was so contrary to the claims that MA would be served by a competitive two party system. Let's make the playing field a little more level. as to lordchaucer, do you feel better referencing MS, AL and TX as if Massachusetts is intelectually superior? Why not reference WI, IN, OH or (especially) NH instead? We have just got to get over ourselves in this State and put an end to effective one-party tyranny.
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Hmmmmm. You are saying we should have changed the law to let Brown serve a full term after the special? But specials are always to fill the remaining part of a vacated term.
"MS, AL and TX as if Massachusetts is intelectually superior?" Um, isn't it?
we think we are....
I only said to move to Miss, Ala or Tex because some of the posters here seem to admire how it's done in those states! The conservatives that post here never seem to EVER admit that the national Republican party is ever wrong about anything - they'd rather blast the Globe and the Northeast in general.
I saw Dan Winslow on Greater Boston and as a Warren supporter was impressed with his ability to, in a limited way thus far, to introduce himself to a larger audience. His views will still have to be expanded and presented in more detail. I Googled Gabriel Gomez. Impressive military credentials but on Hard Ball with a gentle fill-in Michael Smerconnish who was very deferential to Gabriel's military service he came across, at least to me, as not an impressive political person. And all over the map politically, contributed to the Obama 2008 campaign and was representing a group whose video they were specifically reviewing that expressed the most negative comments about Obama. You can look it up, not even near the middle of the road criticisms out there. This was, I believe sometime in May, 2012. see it, make up your own mind as to the viability of his candidacy.
Curious for reactions - If Romney decided to run, who would win him or Markey/Lynch?
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I can't imagine Mitt doing it. He'd have to redo all his positions once again, and he only won 38 percent of the vote here in the presidential election. As for Tagg, I don't really see what credential he can claim.
Romney won't run. But since my earlier enthusiastic support for Dan Winslow, I've learned that state senator Bruce Tarr is considering it. He'd be a great U.S. Senator too! So many good candidates! such a timely column, Scot.
I talked to Senator Tarr a couple of days ago; he didn't seem very likely, but I do think he'd be a good candidate. He's a very good and fun debater.
I didn't think he was running either, but local newspapers today say he is seriously considering it.
Many years ago I served jury duty on an interesting case in the Wrentham Court when Judge Winslow was presiding. I was immediately impressed with him and the way he commanded his court. More recently I met him "on the street" and he actually remembered that case. So, although he may seem like he's lacking some of the qualifications that voters in MA might be used to, he's got some great potential. Now, if he can truly stay away from negative campaigning, he might just be able to restore some of my faith in a new crop of politicians. Sell what you have Mr. Winslow but please, stay out of the mud no matter what your advisors tell you.
I am not familiar with either of the Republican candidates but one hopes that they are sane and rational as Scott describes them. It is so important that both parties put forth candidates that represent different but viable viewpoints. A moderate Republican running and being successful might move the national Party to regain its senses as it is apparently attempting to do.
As I have mentioned previously even here in Florida I have seen a pushback by moderates against the extremes of the Tea Party. One can only hope for success in this revitalization of the Republican Party.