Three debates between Sen. Pat Jehlen and challenger Leland Cheung - 5/31, 6/8, 6/16

[ron_newman]

State Senator Pat Jehlen, who represents Somerville, Medford, and north and west Cambridge, faces a primary challenge this year from Cambridge City Councilor Leland Cheung. So far, I know of three debates scheduled:

Tuesday, May 31, 7 pm: Somerville High School Library, 81 Highland Ave. Debate is part of the Somerville Democratic City Committee meeting.

Wednesday, June 8, 7 pm: Amphitheater of University Hall at Lesley University, 1815 Massachusetts Ave in Porter Square. Sponsored by Cambridge Ward 11 Democratic Committee. Event listing at NextDoor.

Thursday, June 16, 7 pm: Medford City Hall, City Council Chambers. Sponsored by Medford4MA.

The state primary election will be Thursday, September 8.

Comments

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

Again, I wasn't there but following @patjehlen on Twitter (@MinkavB was also tweeting a blow-by-blow account); I got the perception that someone underestimated what they're going up against.

In 2008 Trane entered the race guns ablazin' against Carl Sciortino and wound up running such an absymal campaign that he lost his own ward to a write-in candidate. Cheung has targeted Jehlen's contributors on his website; this almost never ends well unless you know the answer beforehand - and I don't think he does.

[ron_newman]

I don't recall Cheung mentioning Jehlen's contributors during last night's debate at all. It was not an issue yesterday.

[keithn.livejournal.com]

I assume somertricky is referring to this: http://www.lelandcheung.com/blog/leland-cheung-releases-donor-names-implores-senator-jehlen-to-d

It seems like a pretty weak line of attack. It feels like Cheung is having a hard time finding solid footing on which to base this primary challenge.

[keithn.livejournal.com]

Ok. I assumed that Pat's twitter feed was going to make it sound like she "won" the debate no matter how it went, so I wasn't putting much stock in it.

[ron_newman]

I agree about the Twitter feed. The audience was clearly Pat's to begin with, and Leland failed to do anything to dislodge that loyalty.

I'm curious to see if this plays out differently at next week's Cambridge event.