Thanks to Smashrgrl for letting BMGers know about an excellent opportunity to learn more about the candidates for the Middlesex, Suffolk & Essex Senate seat:
You can meet all of these candidates TONIGHT
The Young Democrats of Massachusetts is hosting a Meet the Candidates social tonight, March 31st, at Redline Restaurant in Harvard Sq., Cambridge. All of the Democratic candidates for the Middlesex, Suffolk, and Essex special election seat will be attending. The Social starts at 7:00pm. All ages, and wheelchair accessible.
In attendence:
– Michael Albano (Chelsea Small Business Owner)
– Dennis Benzan (Cambridge Attorney)
– Sal DiDomenico (Everett Common Councilor and former Galluccio chief of staff)
– Timothy Flaherty (Attorney)
– Dan Hill (Attorney)
– Denise Simmons (Cambridge City Councilor)
by: Smashrgrl @ Wed Mar 31, 2010 at 09:57:18 AM EDT
Have not been closely following but looks really competitive. Who has the edge? Who has the most progressive cred? Any BMGers with some answers?
Come tonight, and you can find out for yourself!
It comes down to this, all of these candidates are progressive. DiDomenico is probably the most centrist.
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p>Sal DiDomenico has a lot of support in Everett which is the biggest block in this district. There are a ton of Candidates based in Cambridge ( Flaherty, Simmons, Benzan, Hill ) So they will split the vote there. So each of the Cambridge candidates has to expand outside their own area where they are less well known.
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p>The support for DiDomenico in Everett is very strong. Its been like 30 years since the Senator in this district was from Everett so the locals there are pulling out all the stops for DiDomenico.
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p>The candidate with the strongest campaign and most money is Flaherty, and he ran for this spot last time so he comes in with more organization and more name recognition in the district than anyone else. He’s probably the #2 in the district.
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p>DiDomenico, Simmons and especially Flaherty are getting a lot of PAC and lobbyist money. So their independence is a little suspect.
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p>As for who is the most progressive, its Albano. You really have to hear him speak. He’s inspiring. He’s for single payer health care, he gets it about gridlock on beacon hill. He’s for the public financing of political campaigns ( remember the clean elections law that the legislature killed by voice vote so none of them would be on record for repealing it? )
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p>The question with Albano is does he have enough money and enough grass roots support to overtake the more well financed candidates?
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p>I’ve got a ton of detailed analysis of this race here:
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p>http://massachusetts-election-…
Dan Hill is from Charlestown, not Cambridge.
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p>Also without any links to back up some of your claims, the information sounds suspect.
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p>Looking at the local papers this race is between two candidates and only two of the candidates..
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p>Plenty of coverage in the Cambridge Chronicle and other locals, but it reads the same.
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p>Sal DiDomenico is seemingly running to the center to placate his base of the more working class Everett.
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p>With turnout low, either of them could win, but I have met them both and Tim Flaherty is a much more charismatic candidate. Label this one a toss up IMO.
That’s just a synopsis of the analysis. There are more links on the many articles about the race on my site.
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p>Tim Flaherty is a great speaker and he comes across well in a crowd. He’s definitely a better speaker than DiDomenico, and his presence is much better. DiDomenico doesn’t come across with as much confidence as Flaherty, and he’s not as good with a crowd.
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p>Neither of them is anywhere near as good a speaker as Albano
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p>But you have to talk to them one on one to really understand. Talk to DiDomenico about the details of Flaherty’s flashy 5 points jobs plan. He’s going to build factories to make wind turbine by the river in Everett? Really? Does Flaherty know who owns that land? Does he know what company wants to locate there to build the wind turbines? How long is it going to take to get permitted? Is the land even for sale? How many years will it take? He doesn’t have answers for that. It sounds great, but its not practical. He wants to attract more biotech companies. Does he have any companies identified? Its just big picture dreaming. Does Flaherty even have any history getting any company to relocate anywhere. Does he have experience in land development. No.
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p>DiDomenico is much more practical and much more knowledgeable about what it really takes to solve these problems. He’s talking about employment tax credits for small business, caps on health insurance premium rises, banking reforms to encourage small business lending. These are things a legislature could reasonably get done in a year.
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p>Have you ever asked Flaherty about any bills? With a bill number? Flaherty doesn’t know any of that. Start throwing bill numbers at DiDomenico. He’s been working at the state house. He knows the bills, the sponsors, the committee chairs.
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p>He’s the candidate best placed to actually get things done. He’s knowledgeable and practical. You have to get him one on one and talk about the details to get that.
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p>Anyway DiDomenico is clearly in the lead. Have you seen his crowds? He’s got more support on facebook, more volunteers, more union endorsement and therefore probably more money.
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p>Dan Hill is not a factor in this race. DiDomenico has everything north of Somerville almost to himself.
That’s funny I read the same article and remembered Albano being mentioned in it as rising up to contender status as well. He has also been building up endorsements from State Legislators who must feel he has a chance otherwise why would they go out on that limb.
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