A very quick stream of consciousness ramble from the Claire Naughton office:
There’s a rhythm to campaigns on election day. Monday night before election, after most of the volunteers are gone, the office is occupied by the small group who meant to get to sleep by midnight so they can get back to work at 5:30am. Punchiness sets in, and by 1am everything is funny. Some get a few hours of sleep, at the office or nearby, some don’t. In the early morning there’s a rush with the first wave of volunteers, and then the morning lull after they’re all in place in the precincts. The rest of the day is hectic frenzy punctuated by periods or relative calm… or the other way ’round.
It’s 4pm now, the last “lull” before the critical final push.
… and as soon as I typed that line, the phones went crazy, and the next 40 minutes was phones in each hand for everyone at the office.
This is my second time on the office side of running a get out the vote drive (I was at the office on election day for several Dean primaries, but wasn’t involved in running the GOTV). One thing I’ve learned: This is so much easier to do with 3 people at the office plus a couple of others in and out, than it is with just one person (me) at the office and one other in and out. At least I’ve had time to grab food occasionally. And now it’s time for the next rush. Stay tuned for results sometime after 8pm!
Hey, wanna help us? It’s not too late! come on down!
Edit: Coppola 55%, Naughton 45%
I’ll have more numbers, commentary, and analysis, after I get some sleep.
Posting from my phone again from the party, since my computer’s back at the office:
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Coppola 55%, Naughton 45%.
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We won Mansfield and Norton, lost Foxboro which had much higher turnout.
If so, I’m so sorry… I know how hard Claire has run, and how great and devoted a Democrat she is. We’ve had a good run in specials recently, though…
Rep. Kathy Teahan (7th Plymouth) lost her first bid in a special election back in 1995, only to come back in the regular election the next year to take the seat and hold it for 5 terms. (Granted, this year is a gubernatorial year which traditonally favors Republicans in the general, and Claire only has 8 months until November as opposed to the 20 months Kathy had…)
But congrats to Claire on a strong effort and a great job! đŸ™‚ ANyone know about the other special elections? Particularly Worcester’s 2nd?
As expected, Denise Provost beat Write-In Blank Space here in Somerville. I think the final vote total was something like Denise 1004, Write-In 60.
Who were the write-in spaces? Any strong showings?
I don’t know if any human has even read the write-in votes, since we have optical scanners here.
Yeha, I ran a write-in campaign for Middlesex Sheriff when I lived in Somerville a few years back. The whole thing was a lark–I “announced” two days before the election and just mentioned it to my friends. But I would have liked to see how many votes I got, but I didn’t know how even to check that out, and if anyone did read the write-ins!
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According to friends, I thinkt hat I got at least a dozen votes. And I certainly paid far less for each one than the average candidate!
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/02/07/three_house_seats_decided_in_special_elections/
Should have posted that as a hyper link. Still getting accustom to this blog. I found it just about a week ago.
(or is that AP’s numbers?)
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Anyway, their numbers for the 1st Bristol race are Foxboro only.
I had the privilge of meeting Claire and her family on Saturday. She really impressed me. I know she would have made a great State Rep. She definitely had the passion. Hopefully she’s got enough passion to run again đŸ™‚
From what I saw of the campaign, Claire and her staff ran an excellent campaign and she was a very strong candidate. At the end of the day it’s a conservative district with a lot of respect for the late Rep. Coppola and sympathy for his widow. The fact that Claire made it a race is a testament to a lot of hard work and it also speaks to the fact that this is a district that could definitely be in play under different circumstances. It’ll be interesting to see how Ginny Coppola does in the next 9 months.
Yesterday, I took a vacation day and helped Claire Naughton get out the vote in her race to become a Massachusetts state representative.
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In this race, I gave the maximum: $500. Then I used Evite to send a call for volunteers and money to over a thousand of my friends, colleagues, contacts and even people I met one time at a party. I estimate I raised a couple of thousand dollars for Claire.
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She was by far the best candidate and she fought an excellent uphill race in conservative Republican territory. I have no regrets and I have told her that I will continue to support her if she runs in the general elections for the State House in November. She has a future as a progressive Democratic leader in Massachusetts.
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I’m certain that the time and money that I and others spent on this campaign was not wasted. Although it wasn’t enough to win this race, we have helped to further build the progressive Democratic movement in Massachusetts. We will win the next race wherever that is. Maybe it will be the Deval Patrick campaign for Governor.
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But I have to say that the Massachusetts Democratic Party completely blew it with the Claire Naughton race. With additional money and volunteers from the state party, Claire would have taken this previously Republican seat. But the state Democratic party did virtually nothing.
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Shame on them