When Cheryl Jacques resigned her Senate seat a few years ago her chief of staff, Angus McQuilken, ran for her seat. He won pretty convincingly in the primary, and then lost a close one in the general to then State Rep. Scott Brown. It shouldn’t have been that way. There were only two elections on the ballot that day – the presidential primary and that special election.
Since it was assured GW was going to win on the Republican side, the only people who were going to come out and vote were Democrats. Angus still lost. It was close, but one a day when only diehard Democrats were going to vote he couldn’t beat a guy whose biggest legislative accomplishment was co-sponsoring a bill preventing inmates from getting sex change operations.
Less than two years later there was a rematch, and Brown won again. Angus went off to become communications director at Planned Parenthood, but I hear rumblings that he is going to run again. Has anyone heard the same rumor?
I like Angus personally, and I volunteered quite a bit on his first campaign, but I think it would be a mistake for him to run again. If he couldn’t win the first time, on a day when no one but Democrats were going to vote, then he is not going to win this time. I think it would be better if he stood aside and let someone else with a better chance step up and take a swing at the pitch, someone without two strikes already.
The reason Angus McQuilken lost to Scott Brown was not the turn-out or the issues or the money or the volunteers…Angus had all of those things going for him through the state party’s efforts…real problem was the candidate himself…Brown had an appealing personality which out-distanced McQuilken’s almost smarmy pomposity even amongst Democrats…(I stood at a poll all day for a candidate in a different contest and got an eyewitness view of both Brown’s and McQuilken’s style greeting voters…it was easy to see who was going to win)…I hope McQuilken will not feel the need to jump into that race again…Democrats can do better.
I think Angus has changed his personality dramastically in the public light and seems really appealing. I personally think it sucks to have a great Rep. like Alice Peisch and then a Senator like Brown.
After all, think about it….Scott Brown was UNOPPOSED this cycle, even with the Democratic tidal wave across Massachusetts! If we can find a stronger canidate, I’ll surely consiter supporting them, but keep in mind how AGONIZINGLY close Angus came during both his tries. I’m convinced that if he had run last year, with Deval’s wind at his back, he would now be a state senator.
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Plus, Scott Brown has been hemmoraging sooo much support these past few months over the marriage issue, not to mention his nasty habit of cussing out children when he doesn’t get enough sleep….