Rumors are swirling that John Kelleher will be joining the rest of the write-in bunch down in the 2nd Suffolk Senate district. A bit of googling tells me nothing about Mr. Kelleher, so I don’t know what his background is. Anyone here have more info?
(For the disclosure, I have done some work with the Sonia Chang-Diaz campaign. This post, however, is not submitted by the campaign and has not been coordinated with Ms. Chang-Diaz or her campaign staff.)
I can’t imagine what would possess someone to jump into such an already-crazy game this late. First off, to be at all competitive in this race he’s going to have to raise a good bit of money in a short time (unless perhaps he’s well-off on his own). Second, the other candidates have been working for a few months now, getting press, going canvassing, and generally getting their names out there.
The way I see it, any more people in this race is a boon for Wilkerson. The cloudier the field gets, the more the “we don’t like Wilkerson” vote gets split between the various challengers, while her staunch supporters stay strong.
What’s possessing Kelleher to run a probably-futile last-minute campaign that will only serve as a spoiler for the serious challenger(s) who have been working for months?
I wouldn’t be too worried about a “spoiler” effect. I too am a Chang-Diaz supporter and it seems like the voters that are looking for a change know that she’s the one to vote for (if they can remember the name).
<
p>
The question is still whether there are enough of those voters to overtake Wilkerson. We’ll know soon enough!
<
p>
But, having said that, who IS this guy?? I feel like I pay attention to these things. Did I miss something?
….and decided to shift his organization to the Second Suffolk District because the race is so wacky. Anything can happen in this race. Don’t know whether it’s a Menino-encouraged move, a Wilkerson strategy to split the vote, or simply because he’s the most diverse (relative to the field, ironically) candidate to run if he does. And let’s not get toooo cocky about Sonia being the clear choice for the change vote. Samiyah has far more name ID in press to date and people admire her courage as the only candidate willing to take on Wilkerson when she wasn’t against the ropes. If this guy jumps in, he probably won’t do so until the week before the race to maximize press value of his late entry. We’ll know soon enough.
“Samiyah has far more name ID in press to date and people admire her courage…”
<
p>
If this isn’t a campaign plug than I don’t know what is.
<
p>
I mean, seriously, if nothing else in this race is clear, the one thing that we can count on is that residents in the Second Suffolk aren’t going to support a Romney Republican, especially one with such little experience, organization and name recognition as Samiyah.
<
p>
Irrespective of the number of paper candidates in this race, the real campaign for the Second Suffolk is between two experienced, progressive candidates, each of which is running a real campaign, on real issues.
<
p>
Indeed, one has only to look at Samiyah’s recent media spot to come to the conclusion that her campaign has been about as effective as the Romney administration. Evidently, Samiyah thinks that crime is bad. Her campaign apparently ends there.
<
p>
A quick google also tells this story – not to mention a drive through Roxbury, JP, Back Bay, etc… where Chang-Diaz and Wilkerson have a clear presence and Samiyah, not so much.
<
p>
Voters in the Second Suffolk will definitly have to ask themselves a number of questions come September 19. Thankfully, one such question will likely be, Samiyah who?