Carl for Congress, Capuano for Governor?

[teele-sq.livejournal.com]

Carl Sciortino announces his candidacy for MA-5
http://www.carlforcongress.com/press-release-020813.html

I'd love to hear what fellow DSers think of him.


Capuano vs Scott Brown for Governor?
http://www.wbur.org/2013/02/07/capuano-governor

Comments

[cos]

Carl is awesome. Here's what I think of him.

Dan Wolf for Governor, I hope.

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

Heh, I thought about posting Carl's announcement here. He's been my state rep since he started and I love him. He's smart, personable and seems to be able to get things done for people.

[ron_newman]

I like Carl, but isn't this getting ahead of the game a bit? There isn't an open MA-5 Congressional seat unless Markey beats both Lynch and whoever the Republicans manage to nominate.

[cos]

If that seat does vacate, there will be a much shorter than usual election cycle, so it makes a lot of sense to start early, even at the risk of having to cancel partway through if the election ends up not happening.

[teele-sq.livejournal.com]

I suppose he keeps any money he raises if the election doesn't happen?

[cos]

Yes, sort of. Federal campaign committees and state campaign committees have different fundraising and disclosure rules, so they need to keep their money separate. He'd get to keep his federal committee and whatever money it has in the bank, but couldn't use it to run for state offices.

[cos]

P.S. In particular, grassroots campaigns take time and early groundwork, which means we hardly ever get grassroots campaigns in special elections because there's not nearly enough time. This time may be an exception.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

Well, even if it doesnt work out this cycle, he can get the ball rolling for the next.

[wolftone.livejournal.com]

Capuano just might be my favorite elected official who has ever represented me. Still, I think his strong points are best suited to the legislative and not the executive. His principled stands on privacy (against warrantless wiretapping and the PATRIOT act) and defense (against the Iraq war) mean that I want him on Capitol Hill. This is a man who said "it's okay to throw a coffee cup at someone's head if you're doing it for human rights." Go Mike!

But I'm not sure what would distinguish him as governor. At the state level, I think he'd just look like another left-of-center politician.

[teele-sq.livejournal.com]

No kidding... I'd be sad to lose Capuano as my congressional rep. I wish he was running for Kerry's seat.

[cos]

I agree with you on wishing he were running for Senate, and being glad he's in the House.

Remember though that he was mayor of Somerville for a long time, too, and did well at that.

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

Agree on the Capuano love!

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

Carl for Congress! Woo! :)

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

Ah, I wondered why Mike Capuano wasn't running for Senator. Honestly, I think he'd have an easer time winning that seat than he will have beating Scott Brown for Governor.

[fefie.livejournal.com]

Yay Carl, though I too think it's premature.

As for Capauno, he's awesome on Capitol Hill but I would not want to see him working back here in the state -- the Green Line Extension, the grounding of the McGrath overpass, and other transit/bike/ped progress around here would never come to fruition on his watch. The guy is stuck in another era (the car-as-king era) in his attitude on such matters.

Capauno's a solid rep in Congress, and like others here, I wish he would considering running for Kerry's seat instead.

[ward2.livejournal.com]

Fefie, as I've said in previous posts, I'm a big Capuano fan, and have followed him since I moved here in the tail end of his mayorship.

You do realize that Capuano's on the Transportation Committee, right? We probably wouldn't have gotten both headhouses of the Assembly Sq stop or any real hope for federal money for the GLX without his support and work. We probably couldn't have gotten any money for the Fast 14 project on I-93, or the reconstruction of most roads in the area with Stimulus money that was fought for by 434 other congressmen? Or federal money for extensions to the Community Path? Did you even know that Mayor Capuano pretty much started the Community Path's extension through Somerville?

All that being said, I think he's done a fantastic job in the House. I think he'd have done a great job in the Senate, and hope he does look at Governor. If he can do for Massachusetts what he did for Somerville (and what Joe Curtatone has successfully continued), we'll be very well off.

As for Sciortino, I don't know nearly enough about him, but I can think of a number of other people in Markey's district (e.g., Katherine Clark, Will Brownsberger) who'd run if the seat became vacant.