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MA-Sen: Meehan Won't Run, Capuano Will

by: Crisitunity

Tue Sep 08, 2009 at 5:11 PM EDT


Ex-Rep. Marty Meehan, who has the biggest war chest of any of the potential contenders for the special election to fill the Massachusetts Senate seat, has announced that he won't run:

Meehan is currently the chancellor of UMass-Lowell.  He told Anderson he wants to finish the job he started there three years ago.

"While I am not ruling out the possibility of seeking public office in the future, I am fortunate to be leading a remarkable university that I love, and I just dont want to walk away," Meehan wrote in a statement released Tuesday afternoon.

Now let's see what happens with the $5 million that Meehan has been sitting on since leaving the House.

Meanwhile, Rep. Michael Capuano, who represents Cambridge and part of Boston in MA-08, pulled the papers to run for the Senate today.

An advisor briefed on Capuano's intentions said the six-term Democratic congressman planned to draw nomination papers on Tuesday and will make a formal announcement about his intentions next week.

The dean of the state's House delegation, Ed Markey, has not taken that step yet, but issued a statement over the weekend that, with Joe Kennedy II's decision not to run, he is seriously considering the race.
Crisitunity :: MA-Sen: Meehan Won't Run, Capuano Will
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MA-Sen: Meehan Won't Run, Capuano Will | 31 comments
unless Markey runs
im supporting Coakley, Lynch is awful and there nothing special ive seen about Capuano.
Markey Interested?
Surprised that Markey would consider giving up his House seat. Obviously there's no risk in a special election like this if you come up short, but Markey's got a lot of seniority and near the top of the Energy & Commerce chairmanship ladder.

Of course someone's House seat is probably disappearing in 2012, but it probably wouldn't be Markey's anyway.

I'd be happy with him (well, I'm a former MA resident, not a current one) as a Senator. Capuano would be a terrific choice too.

What we don't want to see as progressives is Stephen Lynch winning because the progressive/liberal majority vote (at least in a Dem primary) is split too many ways. That danger increases with every big name that throws his/her hat into the ring.

 

36, M, Democrat, MD-03

I'm not too worried about Lynch
He's alienated his traditional Labor Union base of support by opposing the public option and supporting free trade agreements.  His only real shot is to try to appeal to the conservative unenrolled voters, who I doubt will be turning out in large numbers for the Dem Primary. (Registered Republicans are only about 10% of the State.)

28, Unenrolled, MA-08
[ Parent ]
The more people that run
I think the more likely it is that Coakley ultimately wins. I've heard a lot about a Hillary-style campaign and if she can get a disporportionate amount of the female vote, she'll win.
I agree
I agree with that completely. Lynch and Capuano will be fighting over the vote in Boston while Coakly will perform very well in the Norfolk and Middlesex county along with Western Mass.
[ Parent ]
Is Coakley
A die hard progressive Democrat? I've heard some bad things about her on the whole Aqua Teen incident.  

19, Male, Independent, CA-12
[ Parent ]
Yes
She seemed pretty progressive on her interview tonight. Aqua teen incident really wasn't her fault, she just came off as looking bad because she couldn't get the two people jail time.  
[ Parent ]
There's very few things
I dislike more than grandstanding, and it seemed like that's what Coakley was doing with this story.

I guess the reason I'm having so much difficulty getting excited about her or any of the others, is that this is Ted Kennedy's seat and all of these candidates seem so milquetoast and from my view almost don't seem worthy of holding this seat.

[ Parent ]
That's a high bar for anyone to reach.
Here's the thing.  Kennedy's gone and he left shoes that were probably too big for anyone to fill.  It's sad, but the past is the past and it's time to move on and judge the candidates on their own merits and pick the best of the lot.  While the Aquateen nonsense was pitiful, Coakley was far from the biggest player in that incident and if that sillyness is the only bad mark on her record then I don't think she's all that bad.  So let's take a fair look, and don't forget, Ted Kennedy had some faults of his own.  As great as he was, let's not turn the man into a myth and an impossible standard.

http://www.bluearkansasblog.com
[ Parent ]
I agree, its a near impossible
Bar to reach. But I don't see any of these candidates having any sort of greatness in them, I don't see any of that "it" factor. I don't see any of them really distinguishing themselves and becoming leaders in the party and in the country.

I'm not a MA resident and from my POV, I'm having a difficult time getting over my apathy. Obviously I don't want to see a Republican and I don't want to see Lynch. Among the good Dems, I think Markey is the one who has some greatness in him but he's also 64. But Capuano and Tierney and Coakley, among those 3 from my perspective its basically just like picking a name out of a hat.

[ Parent ]
Think about it this way.
When Ted Kennedy got elected to the Senate, he did so on his brother's name and his father's money, and for many years was considered nothing more than a playboy.  And really, do you think if we were discussing his political future at the time of Chappaquidick (I know this isn't PC to talk about) that we'd ever guess he would go on to become the liberal lion?  Hell, half the people here would be wanting to toss him under the bus (after all, remember how folks were talking about Dodd not too long ago?).  Point is, no one ever knew Kennedy was going to work out like he did.  I sure as hell would have never guessed it.  So truth is, we don't know how any of these guys are going to work out.  So let's hold them to reasonable standards, pick the best of them, and don't put any unrealistic expectations on them once elected.  It would be awesome if one of them turned out to be like Senator Kennedy, but as long as they're a good progressive vote and voice, I'll be happy even if they do fall way short.

http://www.bluearkansasblog.com
[ Parent ]
Plus...
...I might be in the minority here, but I sort of think that the heir apparent to Ted Kennedy is actually - John Kerry.

And I feel like the Senator that will be elected in Massachusetts is actually filling Kerry's shoes. Which is no small feat in and of itself.

[ Parent ]
I've seen old clips
Of Kennedy and its easy to say this in hindsight, but I think anyone who saw this guy speak could see that there was potential greatness there.

Like I said, I don't dislike any of these people I'm just apathetic about them. I don't live in MA and I'm a student with about 30K in student loans, so I wasn't going to contribute to this race whether it was through time or money. So I feel like I can have this apathy. And I don't want to see Mihos or Lynch, but I don't think either of those things have a great likelihood of happening. But among Capuano and Tierney and Coakley none of them stick out, like I said its like picking a name out of a hat. I'm sure they'd be decent senators and would all vote, more or less, the same way which for us would be a good thing. But from this seat I'd hoped for a little more.

Let me give you an actual example from this cycle, just so I don't see too vague. In the IL-Sen race, I've seen a Giannoulias a few times in person and hes certainly got his downsides but I see potential greatness there. That's the type of candidate I'd been hoping for in this race.

[ Parent ]
No first hand knowledge
But she doesn't seem to be a progressive star...not regressive like Lynch, but nothing to scream and shout "Hallelujah!" over either.  I'd love it if a guy like Jim McGovern got in the race--Mass is probably the only state where he might be able to have a Senatorial position--but I doubt he'll go for it.  Plus, he's from Worcester, I believe, and, sadly, that's too far outside the Boston sphere to get proper notice. I certainly would be happy with Markey and certainly not dissatisfied with Capuano.

30, male, Democratic, CO-01
[ Parent ]
Anybody but Coakley
That is the bottom of the barrel.

It's hard to imagine any progressive supporting her.

[ Parent ]
Care to throw a why in there?
[ Parent ]
Fells Acres
She was involved in that whole mess.  That, plus the Teen Aqua incident paint her, in my eyes, as a political opportunist, and not a very good one at that.

ABC.  

[ Parent ]
On Fells Acres
That's more than a little unfair.  The Fells Acres Day Care Center mess, for those that don't know, was a case that errupted in '84 revolving allegations that the owners of said daycare center had sexually assaulted children.  Most of the evidence presented came from improper, suggestive, and unreliable questioning of the children.  The whole thing comes off as an unfortunate witch trial when you read up on it.  But that said, Marth Coakley only got involved in 1999, her first year as Middlesex County D.A.  By this time the people involved had been in jail for years, the Mass. court system had gone back and forth on reducing their sentences.  The parole board had recommended a pardon if memory serves but the Rep. Governor (Jane Swift) wasn't about to issue one.  So Coakley comes in and reaches an agreement with the surviving woman involved in this whole mess (the other that had been sentenced with her had died in prison I believe) where her sentence was reduced to time served, she was released, but couldn't profit from the whole ordeal.  You can't say Coakley was involved in the whole mess, she only comes in at the end, and her role was pretty minimal.

http://www.bluearkansasblog.com
[ Parent ]
couldn't agree more
I don't know how anyone could come out and try to use that against Coakley...she had absolutely nothing to do with that fiasco and cleaned up a mess that was handed to her when she came into office in 1999, 15 years after the whole thing started.  Coakley cleaned up that mess if she did anything and its a bright spot on her record, not a blight.  

As for the auqu teen stuff, its just sheer non sense.  Coakley was by far and away one of the saner people in that whole fiasco.  I can think of dozens of others that I'd point a finger at long before I'd point at Coakley.  

Check out http://electioninspection.word... for the latest news, election results, poll analysis, and predictions

[ Parent ]
Right.
She's being painted, irresponsibly, as a power hungry self promoter who abuses the law to meet her ends.  But if you sit down and look at these things you see something quite different.  In both cases, she was the calmer, cooler head handed a bad situation who did her job and reached an equitable (is that the right word?) end.  That's not a bad trait.  In a prosecutor and Attorney General, it's an excellent trait.

http://www.bluearkansasblog.com
[ Parent ]
MA
Seems kind of silly for any progressive to be ok with Lynch over her for these reasons.

29/D/Male/NY-01
[ Parent ]
Agreed.
[ Parent ]
I heard Meehan....
...now that he isn't running will be wallpapering his entire house with hundred dollar bills.

If you're not going to give it to the DSCC nothing else to do with the money.

NY-13, Democrat. Blog @ http://infinitefunction.wordpr...

BREAKING: Mihos will switch from Gov to Senate-
Announcement in  next 24 hrs, will spend up to 10 mil of his own money
http://www.thebostonchannel.co...
The only person Mihos could beat would be
Deval in a two way race (meaning with out Cahill), He must be out of his mind.
[ Parent ]
How much money did he spend to earn his 7% in 2006?
If anywhere close to $10 million than it's pretty obvious he is out of his mind.  Or at the very least he shouldn't be talking about wasteful spending in Congress.  

21, male, CA-15 (home and voting there), LA-2 (college)


[ Parent ]
huh?
Why the hell would he do that? He has no chance at winning a Senate race, he had a chance at Governor.  
[ Parent ]
Also Puzzled
Hmmm..assuming this is true, I suppose Mihos thinks he could throw enough mud at Coakley should she win the Dem nod or get enough liberal types to support him against Lynch should he be the nominee. That's a lot of dominoes to fall into place.

If I were him, I'd rather run against Patrick, even if he has to deal with Tim Cahill.

Massachusetts voters are not going to want to give any help to Mitch McConnell and the Party of No in DC.  

36, M, Democrat, MD-03

[ Parent ]
Wha?
Color me surprised and confused by this. He had a decent shot in the governor's race, and he's giving that up for a long-shot bid at the Senate?

Wonder what this means for the governor's race?

[ Parent ]
If the general is....
If the general is Mihos vs Lynch vs Schilling who would you vote for?

And if it is Lynch vs Mihos?

Mihos is pro-choice, Lynch is pro-life.

Fight global warming & help disaster relief efforts by raising money for Music for Relief when you search the web! Click here for more info:
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[ Parent ]
really unimportant
cause real abortion issues rarely come up and he will not be the deciding vote.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus
[ Parent ]
MA-Sen: Meehan Won't Run, Capuano Will | 31 comments

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