The MSM seems to have more on the Second Senate contest than BMG these days (I know, I know, someone will chirp in that it’s no contest, yadda yadda), such as a thoughtful piece in this week’s South End News: http://southendnews…. What gives? BMG owned this race from the outset, long before any reporters even heard of the Wilkerson-Diaz-Chang Diaz donnybrook!
In the interests of getting BMG back into the game, today’s question is: just how long ARE Deval Patrick’s coattails? See http://www.samiyah4s…
As before, I remain respectfully a Diaz supporter and a Chang Diaz fan.
Please share widely!
With all due respect to Ms. Diaz’ campaign, running as a Republican in the Second Suffolk this year is just asking for trouble. It was a strong Deval area in the caucuses and the primary and every time another rotten Healey ad goes up, it only angers people even more and Ms. Diaz is caught in the backlash. Sticking one’s nose into the Democratic primary didn’t help either, given the closeness of the race (about 10 votes/precinct) and the confusion that ensued for some voters.
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Another factor is the strong race that Chang-Diaz ran, i.e., why elect a Republican now when there may be a rematch in 2008 (though that is entirely speculative, who knows what can happen in 2 years). Also, even if one is disappointed in one’s senator, they may be perfectly happy with their House member and feel there is someone on Beacon Hill who will represent their interests, so less immediacy for turnover.
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Thanks for posting the South End News story, it’s great to see them online finally!
I don’t really think there’s a good year to run as a Republican in the 2nd Suffolk. I couldn’t find registration stats for the district, but in Suffolk county over all Dems outnumber republicans by about 6-1. And it’s the only county with a Democratic majority in the state. I’m guessing that the ratio is even higher in the second district so it’s a huge uphill battle. Plus, Wilkerson has very loyal supporters. They’ll definitely turn out for her.
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I’ll be voting for Samiyah this year even though I disagree with her on many of the issues. I like her views on social issues and I just can’t bring myself to vote for Wilkerson anymore. Also, Samiyah’s daughter is in my daughter’s first grade class which is always an important consideration.
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But it’s really just a protest vote. Our best shot at beating Wilkerson was in the primary and I must say that Sonia Chang-Diaz gave it a great shot. Hopefully she’ll be back in ’08.
There are two assertions in this post that crack me up. The first is that the South End News, an independently-owned community newsweekly is part of the “MSM.” The second is that, as Amicus writes, “BMG owned this race from the outset, long before any reporters even heard of the Wilkerson-Diaz-Chang Diaz donnybrook!”
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I have no idea when BMG started commenting on the Second Suffolk race. But for the record, the South End News first mentioned Samiyah Diaz in the paper last spring, March 9 to be exact. It would have been sooner, but close observers of this race (Amicus, perhaps?) remember that Diaz wanted nothing to do with the press and she was, shall we say, difficult to track down. We profiled her on March 30. We covered her press conference announcing her intention to run a sticker campaign and covered Chang-Diaz’s press conference when she announced. We also covered the Wilkerson signature gathering fiasco and much more related to this race.
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The next time you categorically dismiss the work of print journalists (perhaps that is your rather broad definition of what “MSM” is) check your facts.
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Susan Ryan-Vollmar
Editor, South End News
Sheesh, I compliment South End News for writing a nice profile of the Second Suffolk District race and get whacked for it by the Editor! Susan, I love your paper but was making the point that BMG has engaged in radio silence on the race. Heck, Dianne Wilkerson hasn’t even bothered to update her website from the September 19 primary election. Is that a sign of confidence? Or arrogance? See Tortoise vs. Hare reference here: http://www.samiyah4s…
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And another thing. It was BMG that broke the news about Sonia Chang-Diaz entering the race. My post was about the “Wilkerson-Diaz-Chang-Diaz” donnybrook. Just the facts, ma’am, just the facts.*
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*Credit: Sgt. Joe Friday