Election, this Tuesday

[cos]

The Massachusetts primary election is this Tuesday, September 19th.

We have two parties with official ballot status in Massachusetts: Democratic and Republican. Both parties will be holding primaries on Tuesday - but there are no contested Republican primaries in this area. With the exception of Governor/Lt. Governor, Democratic nominees will win every office that Cambridge & Somerville vote on. This is the election that counts, more than November!

You can vote in the Democratic primary if you registered to vote before August 30th, either as a Democrat or as unenrolled (no party). If you registered for a past election, you don't need to re-register. If you moved in the past six months and didn't re-register with your new address, vote at your old address. Find your precinct and polling place at WhereDoIVoteMA.com.

Contested Democratic Races

• Governor: Deval Patrick, Chris Gabrieli, Tom Reilly


• Lieutenant Governor: Andrea Silbert, Tim Murray, Deborah Goldberg


• Secretary of State (technically, Secretary of the Commonwealth): John Bonifaz, Bill Galvin


• Middlesex Clerk of Courts: Bruce Desmond, Michael Sullivan

Research the candidates...

• Visit their web sites.


• For the statewide races, a lot of candidates have videos on YouTube - search for their names


• Look for coverage on the Massachusetts political blogs, starting with Blue Mass Group. Blue Mass Group's blogroll lists all the other MA politics blogs.

I posted this a few days ago on ljmass and massachusetts without my own recommendations, but since there are a number of people on this community who ask me for candidate recommendations, I strongly recommend Deval Patrick, Andrea Silbert, and John Bonifaz for the statewide offices, and I have a mild preference for Bruce Desmond for Middlesex Clerk of Court. There are no other contested races in the Davis Square area (Somerville wards 6 & 7).

Disclosure: I am John Bonifaz's campaign blogger. Bonifaz is a voting rights and election reform leader, running for Secretary. You can read my blog posts at johnbonifaz.com. See also last week's front page Globe article about this race - why won't Bill Galvin debate?

Comments

i think....

[mattdm [typekey.com] (from livejournal.com)]

Democratic nominees _may_ also win the offices of Governor/Lt. Governor. I mean, it's possible, right?

[dreamgirly19.livejournal.com]

For me...I do not like Gabriella or Patrick. Reilly all the way.

[inkscarred.livejournal.com]

I've been searching online with little luck but perhaps you could point me in the right direction: where can I find a site that compares the candidates by issue? (The Boston Globe does this for the gubernatorial race but not for the other positions.)

Re: i think....

[cos]

Very likely, in my opinion. But the November election is going to be competitive - I can't say they will win. I can say that with complete certainty for all the other offices except a small handful or state legislative seats far from Somerville.

[cos]

Other than Governor, you mostly have to look at their web sites and interviews and put it together yourself. Incumbents in the state house and state senate have pages on Mass Scorecard with some of their voting record, but new challengers aren't there of course. Vote-Smart and OnTheIssues.org do position comparisons, but mostly focus on higher offices.

You can find Bonifaz's positions in his Voters' Bill of Rights and the issues section of the web site.

Blue Mass Group has covered all the statewide races extensively for a long time, and I remember seeing a number of issue by issue comparisons of the Lt. Governor candidates there - you could try searching.

Uh-oh: can of worms opened

[rollzroix.livejournal.com]

I'll probably get some people's irish up by offering a political disagreement on a non-political community board, but since you opened the can of worms with endorsements I can't resist.

I would suggest to people who are undecided on the Lt. Gov race that they consider casting a vote for Worcester Mayor Tim Murray. I like Andrea Silbert and by all means if you have a strong preference for her, vote your conscience. But people should know that there are many areas of this state where she is simply unknown. Tim Murray doesn't offer the gender balance but he is just as "progressive" (if that's what you're looking for), and he is much more well known statewide than Silbert. I think this race is going to be close, but I think it's going to be close between Murray and Deb Goldberg, with Silbert simply not having enough name recognition and organization outside of her home and a few places like Cambridge/Somerville. Many people feel Deb Goldberg, although she too would offer gender balance, is easily the least qualified of the three candidates (and those people would probably attribute her current strong standing in opinion polls to the fact that she has gazillions of dollars for TV ads that the other two candidates simply can't match). Just my two cents.

My disclaimer: I used to live in Worcester and I know Tim Murray's a good guy. Other than that, I would second your endorsements.

[veda815.livejournal.com]

Can anyone comment on the Clerk of Courts race? I'm not sure I even understand the position, let alone the candidates. I also can't find on their websites or other sites where they stand on the standard issues.

Clerk of Courts

[cos]

Clerk of Courts is the person who manages the court system for the county from a non-legal standpoint: staffing, equipment, schedules, buildings, etc. So, the "standard issues" like gay marriage, local aid, jobs, and so on, aren't the issues for this office.

Left in Lowell had a good discussion of this and I commented there at length. Someone who favors Sullivan also participated in the comment thread. Take a look and it might help you decide.

You're right, it's hard to get good information on the Clerk race. I happened to see the two candidates at two different candidate forums. I think the one in Medford (which was also supposed to include a forum for Secretary, but Bill Galvin told them he'd be there and then cancelled at the last minute :/) has been broadcast a few times on Somerville cable.

Re: Uh-oh: can of worms opened

[cos]

I like Tim Murray, and I'm glad we have two great candidates in this race. Silbert actually raised more money than Murray, but held on to much of it and has only started running ads recently. That's why polls have shown she has less name recognition, but I think that's changing now that her ads are on the air (and on youtube :)

Though I think both Murray and Silbert are strong candidates who would be good Lt. Governors, the reasons I prefer Andrea Silbert are:

• She's bolder, more charismatic (yes I've met both, as well as seen public speeches), and more likely to make a difference by going to the public on important issues.


• I co-founded a small business in the 1990s (we had our office in Davis Square for several years, in fact), and I'm really drawn to the fact that Silbert has been involved in founding hundreds of small business (including, for example, ZipCar). She's worked with people who had ideas to get them started, get them funding, get them offices, comply with employment law, etc. She knows what the major pitfalls and common obstacles are, where the bureaucracy fails and where it succeeds, and where the opportunities are. She plans to make job creation a focus of her tenure as Lt. Governor, and unlike other candidates who say "job creation" she doesn't mean tax cuts for big corporation, she means helping residents with ideas be better able to start small businesses.


• Tim Murray, as mayor of Worcester, prevented the Worcester city council from hearing a local civil liberties resolution. If it weren't for him, Worcester would've probably passed one, as hundreds of other cities have (including more than 50 cities and towns in Massachusetts).


• Tim Murray strongly supports MCAS as a graduation requirement for high school, and I think it's ridiculous to use a test that's supposed to measure as a requirement. You can't measure something when your instrument of measurement has high stakes - it becomes a roundabout method of setting curriculum, and the result is a disaster.


• Andrea Silbert is supported by almost every Progressive Democrats and Democracy for America group in the state. I like those groups and support their goals, and I think the more votes the candidate they back gets, the more political strength they'll have, which I think is a great side-benefit of voting for Silbert.

I support Tim Murray's priorities of better interface between state and local governments, increased local aid, and more regional public transportation. I won't be upset if he wins, but I definitely prefer Andrea Silbert.

[ron_newman]

Bruce Desmond mailed out a campaign leaflet disguised as a jury summons notification. This alone shows such poor judgment that I cannot possibly vote for him.

[ron_newman]

I scanned in the mailing referred to in the above comment. You can see it here:

Blue Mass. Group: Bruce Desmond mails a fake jury summons to voters

Re: Uh-oh: can of worms opened

[siderea]

I was just about to go find an LJ com for Worcester to see what folks there thought of him. Can you speak more about what makes him a good guy in your eyes?

non-political?

[cos]

BTW, speaking as one of the community maintainers, I wanted to address this: by offering a political disagreement on a non-political community board

There's nothing in this community's policies barring political discussion. It's perfectly welcome here, and this post is certainly a political post. Your comment was on topic, well written, and worthwhile.

I'm curious why you'd label this "a non-political community" in the sense of "we shouldn't discuss politics here"? (If I know where that perception came from maybe I can help clear it up for other people)

Re: non-political?

[rollzroix.livejournal.com]

I suppose what I meant was that this particular political discussion, regarding the democratic nominees for Mass Lt. Gov., is not exclusively local to Davis Square and there might be better forums to have this type of debate (you mentioned bluemassgroup.com above).

I certainly don't have a problem with a political discussion on this board, but I suspect it's not the reason most people visit here. Now, if we were debating Ward 5 and 6 candidates for Somerville Board of Aldermen or School Committee, this would probably be a more obvious place for that type of discussion.

That said, I live in East Somerville, and I tend to be more drawn to commenting on this board when the subject is NOT exclusively local to Davis Sq., so thanks for drawing me in!

Re: Uh-oh: can of worms opened

[rollzroix.livejournal.com]

Other than his views on the issues, which I think are quite similar to Andrea Silbert's, I can only tell you about my personal experience.

I know Tim Murray's campaign manager (Joe O'Brien). I actually know him through his wife and mother, with whom my wife and I helped start an organic food coop (http://artichokecoop.org/) in the heart of Worcester's poorest (and most dangerous) neighborhood. Joe and his wife also happen to live in that neighborhood. Joe is (or was) on the School Committee in Worcester and at one time ran for State Rep. He is a progressive community activist who absolutely believes in what he's doing and practices what he preaches. I don't believe he'd be managing Tim Murray's campaign if he didn't believe in him.

That's mostly how I arrived at my assessment of Tim Murray as a "good guy". I admit that I do not know him personally, but I've heard many good things about him from people I trust in Worcester.

I do like Andrea Silbert and cos has obviously done the homework and laid out a convincing case for her. Other than knowing Tim Murray's campaign manager, one of my main reasons for supporting him is that I still believe he has the best chance of beating Deb Goldberg (who, as I said before, I believe to be a weak candidate). Maybe Andrea and her late commercials will close the gap by tomorrow morning but I doubt it.

polls

[cos]

Don't put much trust in these polls, every one so far on the LG race has shown "undecided" ahead of all three candidates. Given that most people will be going to vote for Governor, a lot of those undecideds are going to vote.

You might be interested in hoss's post on Blue Mass Group, LG Poll - inside the numbers. Among the things he found were:

"First, and most obviously, this race is too low of a priority for voters to be able to predict who will win."

"Second, Deb Goldberg's purported lead is not as large as it seems, and her support is not as solid as it ought to be given the money she's spent."

And...
Goldberg and Silbert Way Ahead with Casual Voters
Deval's Voters Favor Silbert (and Murray is last with them)
Deb Goldberg's failure to seal the deal is the biggest surprise (given how much advertising she's run).

... so it seems to me you could make just as good a case for voting Silbert to prevent Goldberg from winning, as you could the other way 'round. Particularly since Deval has the best field operation and the poll suggests that the voters Deval's people pull to the polls vote for Silbert the most and Murray the least.

Enough to make your head hurt? Just remember the simplest part: "undecided" was still in the lead as of the last poll. So just pick your favorite LG candidate, regardless of what you think the other two candidates' chances are.

Re: non-political?

[frederic.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this.

[cos]

Thanks!

(wanna post a link in your LJ? :)

[artic-monkeys.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all the information and the links Cos!

How does this happen? (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060919/pl_nm/bush_poll_dc) Why is it so easy for these guys to focus on terror and war, when we really need help at home, and on the gulf coast with the whole Katrina disaster. The current administration has totally failed here, yet they are able to get back up in the polls. I am totally baffled? I sure hope we can get this message out and help the rest of the country see the big picture when it comes time to pick a new President.