Blue Mass Group

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Primary RESULTS open thread

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Post ’em if you got ’em!

UPDATES: 8:47 pm. AP has called US Senate for Kerry, who appears to be winning 2-1.

9 pm.  Press release from Jason Lewis indicates that he has won the primary for the 31st Middlesex State Rep (Winchester/Stoneham) seat.  Congrats to Jason!

9:02: (by Charley) Somerville News says Sciortino wins on stickers. That is some bad-ass organization you can believe in, my friends.

9:21 pm.  BMG News is calling the 4th Middlesex Senate race for Ken Donnelly.  With 59% of the vote in, Donnelly leads Jack Hurd 57%-37%.  Hurd’s best town should be Arlington, which is also the slowest to report, but with 6 of 21 Arlington precincts in, Hurd is ahead by only 73 of about 2,500 votes cast.  If that holds up, a modest win in Arlington for Hurd won’t compensate for Donnelly’s big wins everywhere else in the district.  

9:30 pm.  Sonia Chang-Diaz has won the primary in the Second Suffolk Senate race.  Congratulations to Sonia and her amazing team, who have pulled off an upset that many thought was inconceivable!

9:35 pm.  BMG News is calling the 35th Middlesex state rep race (Medford/Malden) for Paul Donato.  With all of Medford in, Donato has a commanding lead over Patrick McCabe and Jim Caralis, 58%-33%-9%.  Malden isn’t going to change that, since both McCabe and Caralis are Medford guys.  Ah well.

Wednesday morning: sco reports that Jon Hecht won the all write-in primary in the 29th Middlesex (Watertown) state rep race.  Congrats!

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  3. Read out by the town clerk within the last 5 mins… machine count only, not final:

    <

    p>US Senate:
      Kerry 411
      Oreilley 179

    <

    p>State Senate:
      Flanagan  474
      Knuuttila  109

    <

    p>State Rep:
      Naughton  440
      Kerrigan  169

    <

    p>

  5. Dont have the precinct numbers, but Sonia Chang Diaz won one precinct 206-60, the other a bit closer at 180-80.

    <

    p>Holding serve ….

  6. Mass Equality won’t be happy

    <

    p>Dwyer 3470
    Natale 2336

    <

    p>at least ht’s wat my sources are telling me

    • EaBo’s right, Dwyer beat Natale

      James Dwyer 3,470 60%
      Patrick Natale 2,336 40%
      14 of 14 precincts reporting Updated: 10:48 PM

      <

      p>Natale was pro-marriage equality but anti-choice.  Dwyer is the opposite: he wanted to “let the people vote”, but is pro-choice.

  9. How the flying fruck are there NO results for Wilkerson v. Chang-Diaz yet? Do people in the Back Bay not know how to count?  

    • SEN.GEN.CT.2ND SUFFOLK DEM 10:15 PM
      Total
      Number of Precincts 73
      Precincts Reporting 67 91.8 %
      Total Votes 16642
      Number of Uncast Votes 388

      <

      p>SONIA R. CHANG-DIAZ 8401 50.48%
      DIANNE WILKERSON 8219 49.39%
      Write-in Votes 22 0.13%

      <

      p>6 more precincts left…are they in the heavily Wilkerson pcts????? Will 200 vote margin hold????

      • What a tease if the Globe report turns out to be wrong. The Sonia party is already happening at alchemist

      • SEN.GEN.CT.2ND SUFFOLK DEM
        Total
        Number of Precincts 73
        Precincts Reporting 73 100.0 %
        Total Votes 17899
        Number of Uncast Votes 420
        SONIA R. CHANG-DIAZ 9051 50.57%
        DIANNE WILKERSON 8823 49.29%
        Write-in Votes 25 0.14%

        • The 420 “uncast” ballots could be those that the machine reader missed.  While unlikely to flip the results (congrats Sonia!), Chang-Diaz better keep the troops rallied in the event of a Wilkerson recount effort.  The only thing that Dianne Wilkerson hasn’t stolen in the past 15 years is an election, so don’t give her a chance with a recount…

          • But that remark about Wilkerson is uncalled for.  She’s been an effective and highly regarded public servant.  It is unseemly to kick her on her way out.

            • Laurel, I regret making the snark in the excitement of victory for Sonia.  The truth is that Dianne’s story is one of lost opportunity–for her, for her district and for Massachusetts.  She coulda been a contenda on a much larger level, but her own hubris and ethical failings held her back and the voters made the right decision.  Dianne is unemployable in the private sector, so I expect she’ll be appointed to some position of public trust yet again by the political insiders who went to bat for her. (IF she survives any upcoming AG investigation into her most recent possible campaign finance and ethics violations.)  In that role, she can start to reinvent herself and reclaim some of the great potential that she had and squandered.  Time will tell.  I don’t regret for an instant, however, having zero tolerance for ethical violations and public corruption by public officials and I hope you’d agree.

        • SONIA R. CHANG-DIAZ 9051 50.57%
          DIANNE WILKERSON 8823 49.29%
          Write-in Votes 25 0.14%

          <

          p>Wow! Close one…probably a recount will follow…but I hope she holds on to those votes!

    • you’re still in our company.  Meanwhile, tumbleweeds roll through RMG.  So, do you have info on the sticker campaign results or don’t you?  Sciortino just won one.  How about Bob Parks?  How did he do?  How many write-ins were needed to get the republican candidates on the November ballot?

    • Looks like VESuggestions pulled the diary they had up about today’s election results.  You know, the one containing EaBo’s only comment, which was to snipe at me for mentioning that he was spending all his election results time over here.

  16. This from a south shore town—very democratic. Look at the number of registered voters and then look how many voted—pathetic. We get the government we deserve.

    <

    p>Numbers from today elections in Whitman:

    <

    p>Republican Ballots: 159
    Democratic Ballots: 825
    Total Ballots Taken: 984

    <

    p>Total Registered Voters: 8,900

    <

    p>US Senate:
    Beatty – 150
    Kerry – 470
    O’Reilly – 348 (close to half of the Dems didn’t want Kerry)

    • Note that the smallest numbers you report are for republicans.  EaBo?  Is McCain running a stick campaign in MA?

    • Whitman is very Democratic?  Then why was it one of the few towns where Healey beat Patrick in 2006?  

      <

      p>With no contested Republican primary, and the only contested Democratic primaries a foregone conclusion (US Senate) or county offices, why would we get a big turnout?

      <

      p>Geez, man, stop embarrassing yourself.  

      • Sabutai, you of all people should know the dynamics in Whitman and the surrounding towns. They’re populated with a good number of “Ed King Democrats” and their philosophical heirs. They’ll vote Democratic up and down the line for most county offices, congress, and state offices like treasurer and auditor. They’ll usually vote democratic for President, though this year might be tough for Obama. But when it comes to offices like governor or D.A., that’s when the social conservatism kicks in, and the folks down there start splitting tickets.
        You seriously can’t put Whitman into the Republican column because Deval (and Shannon O’Brien) lost down there; you need to look at the other races on the ballot. Whitman is a blue town, albeit with a tinge of purple, much like the rest of the South Shore.  

    • Yes, because turnout for noncompetitive primaries and state legislature races has a lot to do with a United States Presidential Election.  

      • My guess is that it’s probably just people who weren’t paying attention. (Either to the news about Marzilli or to what they were doing when they were filling in the circles on the ballot.)

  20. MetroWest Daily News and the local cable access channel are reporting that incumbent state Rep. Pam Richardson has defeated two challengers in the 6th Middlesex race.

    <

    p>Pam Richardson: 1,778
    Chris Walsh: 1,639
    Dawn Harkness: 1,280

    <

    p>

  21. Anyone know how John Lambert (R-Natick) did in his quest to get 1000 write-ins to be on the November ballot of Middlesex Recorder of Probate?  They’re silent over at RMG.  Also regarding Brion Cangiamila’s write-in effort in Arlington.  And what about Bob Trane?  Those who can best answer these important questions have totally clammed up.

  22. Does anyone know where I can see US Senate results by city and town, possibly with a color-coded map?

    <

    p>What about the Middlesex Probate situation?  Is a County Caucus going to be required?

  23. …but Lexington does and Buonomo is winning there by more than what Newton said the edge of write-ins there over Buonomo. So I am guessing there will be caucuses.

      • Wouldn’t know how to have a field day if we threw one for them. LOL. They’ll either not see this, or they’ll go overboard, but they won’t use this in a useful way. They’re too incompetent in this state.

        <

        p>Actually, I better not say that, because they may fire Barney. Barney, you’re doing a fantastic job – doing yer daddy proud. Keep it up!

  24. Carolyn Dykema in a landslide, winning all five towns, including Ed Mills’s hometown of Hopkinton.  Votes by town:

    <

    p>Medway – 107 to 69
    Holliston – 1344 to 251
    Hopkinton – 600 to 429
    Southborough – 244 to 167
    Westborough – 116 to 56

    <

    p>Totals:  2411 (71%) to 972 (29%)

    <

    p>I expected a closer result than this and was still doing GOTV calls until 7:40.  By then, I was very optimistic, since 3 after 3 kept telling me that they had already voted for Carolyn.

    <

    p>Earlier in the day, I really enjoyed sharing the sidewalk with the Mills people while we did our respective precinct visibilities.  They were fine company, and I hope we can all be on the same team in November.

  25. 13 vote margin for Ward 2 City Councilor Mike Brady over City Council President Bob Sullivan.

    <

    p>Seat held by: Thomas P. Kennedy, Democrat of Brockton, who is running for State Senate.

    <

    p>Democrats Votes Vote %
    Michael Brady 1,513 39%
    Robert Sullivan 1,500 39%
    Conor Yunits 860 22%
    12 of 12 precincts reporting

  26. Jon Hecht defeats Julia Fahey by over 800 votes in Watertown/Cambridge.  Town Councilor Steve Corbett was a non-factor.

    <

    p>I thank the good Lord that the difference was great enough to preclude a write-in/sticker recount.

    <

    p>Jon will be a tremendous state Rep.

    • So glad he won! I’ve been trying to find results on this race.

      <

      p>People should go over to http://www.leftahead.com and listen to Jon Hecht’s interview. He was as impressive as any candidate for office we’ve ever had on. He truly ‘got it.’

      <

      p>Grats, Sco! I’m sure you worked hard on that race.  

    • Steve, I also left this comment on your weblog, but I would like to know your thoughts about Corbett being a non-factor.  Obviously, the results speak to that.  Why do you think that is?  I will be honest that I did not pay much attention to this campaign, because I have been working a lot and I am preparing to move to Brighton soon.

      <

      p>I get the sense that Corbett was not particularly interested in this race.  Hecht and Fahey bombarded me with mailings, yet I may have received two or three from Corbett.  Still, I would have thought that Corbett would have had a larger base, since he is an at-large councilor, and Jon Hecht is a district councilor.

      <

      p>Also, why did Mark Sideris not run?  He was the leading vote-getter at-large last year.

      <

      p>As for the Republicans, who apparently could not find anyone to distribute 150 stickers, Keith Mercurio was a strong candidate two years ago (disclosure: I campaigned for him), but he moved to Belmont.  When he did not run for the District C open seat last year, I knew that he had decided to start a new chapter in his life.  Perhaps he will run for selectman in Belmont, then consider challenging Brownsberger.

      <

      p>Nonetheless, I also congratulate Jon Hecht,  I may not agree with a large number of his positions, nor do I agree with those of his base in Precinct Four, but I did a report on the Watertown budget process in grad school, and he was very helpful.  He took his responsibilities seriously as chair of the budget committee.  I am certain that he will be reliable with his constituents on Beacon Hill.

  27. I have been awake for two days pretty much and right now I’m not sure if I can go to sleep because I have such a huge adrenaline rush.  My body is aching all over because I have been on my feet since 5 am.  I wear a pedometer and today I walked over 5 miles.  Where?  In a parking lot at the Medford 7-1 polling place for 13 hours coordinating my volunteers and speaking to every voter to make sure they knew how to vote for Carl Sciortino.  All day long was amazing.  

    <

    p>I had been canvassing this precinct for quite a while and I pretty much know every voter’s house and what their pet dogs names are.  Most people I spoke to had read about the race, read our literature and knew they wanted to vote for Carl because he has brought so much to our district.  Hardly anyone seemed phased by the stickers.  People were turned off by the negative campaign literature of Bob Trane and wondered why he didn’t really give them any good reason to vote for him and was only attacking Carl for catering to “Special Interests”.  You know like Teachers, Nurses and Health Care workers, Social Workers.   When I talked to people I said, I don’t know about you but that seems to be the people who help people like me, that is me.  And they agreed.

    <

    p>Today my precinct further amazed me as I saw voter after voter arriving at the polling place holding tight to their stickers.  Stopping while we made sure they knew how to use them.  Some people got inside and realized they didn’t have their sticker and came all the way back out to us to get one.  I spoke to a number of people who proudly told me that they were a new citizen and this would be their first vote.  Immigrant parents brought their (adult) children with them to help them vote because they were concerned that they wouldn’t understand the ballot.  They wanted to vote and they wanted to make sure their vote counted.

    <

    p>Everything wasn’t rosy all day.  A guy working for the Trane campaign walked around yelling “have a good trip back to Connecticut and New York”….because of course they claim that no one working in our campaign actually lives in the district and that we bring in people for our “machine” from all over the country. “I live in Somerville Ward 7 Precinct 3” I told him.   “yeah right, no you don’t.”   At the same time there was a photographer walking around taking photos of us.  He told me “I’m with the press taking photos for the paper.”  “What paper are you with?” I ask.  “The Somerville News.”    Funny thing……The Trane campaign guy and the Somerville News Photographer……they left at the same time………..they left together in the one car.   That is your non-biased press….The Somerville News.

    <

    p>We did the impossible today.  We did what couldn’t be done.  

    <

    p>I’ve worked a lot of campaigns and I’ve won and I’ve lost.   This one is the sweetest ever.  This is the one that had to be won. This was very personal for me.   I do live in this district.  I am a homeowner in this district. I am going to live in this district the rest of my life.  And my State Representative is the Best State Representative in this Commonwealth and his name is still Carl Sciortino.

    • even a real paper? I’ve never seen a professional newspaper – even a tiny weekly – have a typepad website.

      <

      p>Then I realized that the Somerville Journal was the Wickedlocal weekly for the city.

      <

      p>Is it just some guy with a blog or something? lol

      <

      p>In any event, AWESOME write up. You ran an incredible campaign. I did a little phone banking and couldn’t believe how well organized and staffed the campaign was.  

      • The Somerville News is a real, printed weekly newspaper, distributed free at local stores and cafes and a few newsboxes.   Their editorial columns (NewsTalk, View from Prospect Hill) are outrageously slanted against Pat Jehlen, Carl Sciortino, and Rebekah Gewirtz, but mostly this doesn’t spill over into their news articles.

    • including Bob Trane himself, were nothing if not entirely pleasant and enjoyable.

      <

      p>From 7-noon, there were always about a half dozen Trane people and a half dozen Sciortino folks, and we got along swimmingly.

      • Most of the Trane people working at my location were pleasant.  We had Somerville DPW workers.  We had guys who worked for Sherriff DiPaolo.  The guys from the Sherriff’s office didn’t live in the district and didn’t actually even know who Bob Trane was.  But they were told to take the day off and volunteer.

        <

        p>There were only a couple of people who gave us trouble.  The guy who yelled at us which I mentioned in my previous post and another guy who we overheard calling City Hall pretending that they were a resident of the building and that the Scortino folks were obstructing traffic.  Of course we weren’t obstructing traffic and this particular guy was actually the guy standing at the driveway entrance handing out Trane literature to the cars.  The police officer had told us all that if they got enough calls to city hall with complaints that he would shut us down and make us all leave the polling place.  So it was in the Trane campaign’s best interest to get us all kicked out of there so this guy made the call.  He thought we couldn’t hear him because he stepped behind a tree to make the call.  But it was a tree not a soundproof wall so we did hear him.  I am not saying that the official Trane campaign advocated that these calls be made, but the fact is that this particular Trane volunteer did it.

        <

        p>Somerville Alderman Bill Roche visited the precinct I was working in.  It seems he was sent to see what we were doing and told to complain to the police.  I overheard him on the phone back to Trane HQ.  He was saying something like, “But there is nothing I can do.  They aren’t breaking any rules.  They aren’t doing anything wrong.”  Thank you Alderman Roche!

        <

        p>In Somerville a young friend of mine told me that at one point she was surrounded by Trane supporters with bullhorns screaming “Do not take the stickers!”  I did not witness this myself, but perhaps another Blue Mass Group reader did.

        <

        p>The Somerville News bloggers are full of more accusations and lies today.  They will never stop.

  28. Claire Paradiso got enough write-ins to qualify for the ballot, so Minority Leader Brad Jones will have a Democratic challenger in November.  (Reading, Lynnfield, Middleton and North Reading)

  29. I’ve been looking around to see if Brion Cangiamila received enough Republican write-in votes to get on the ballot for 4th Middlesex Senate, but I have not found anything. Anyone know? It looks like he only got 22 (!) votes in Lexington.

  30. wwlp.com reports this comment from John Kerry….
    “You always have mischief makers in these primaries with people going out to vote for one thing or another. I have no problem. This is an open good democratic process. I learn from it and we go on,” he said.
    Ed got 153,636 votes. I would call that an awful lot of “mischief makers”.  

    • if Kerry beat O’Reilly.

      <

      p>So…like could you make that happen?

      <

      p>Thanks.

      <

      p>                                  Sincerely,

      <

      p>                                  The World

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