Roll Call reported today an unnamed 30-something, former Marine who says he can raise a million is considering a run as an independent against Congressman Tierney and GOP contender Tisei. The Globe is now chiming in with the name of the ambitious fellow.
GLOBE’s Mike Levinson reports:
Seth Moulton, 33, Marblehead, has three Harvard degrees and served four tours of duty in Iraq says he is considering a run against US Representative John F. Tierney
Moulton went to Phillips Academy Andover, and served in the Marines, says he would run as an independent, which would allow him to get on the November ballot, if he can collect 2,000 signatures by July 31.
Moulton graduated from Harvard College in 2001. He served two tours in Iraq as an infantry platoon commander and two tours as an assistant to General David H. Petraeus, in 2005 and 2007-2008. He then returned to Harvard where he received degrees from the Kennedy School of Government, and Harvard Business School.
He is currently managing director of Texas Central Railway, a company that is trying to bring Japan’s “bullet train” to Texas.
Moulton lives in Dallas, but says he moved there for the job eight months ago and has lived in Massachusetts for 32 of his 33 years. He would be able to establish residency for the election simply by moving back to the state.
He said he has never been involved in politics before, and just begun speaking to friends and colleagues about the idea a few days ago. …“It’s an opportunity that came completely out of the blue,” he said.
…Somehow his last statement left me wondering…how out of the blue was this opportunity and who brought it to him…hmmmm…does it make you wonder, too?
…from whom is he likely to pull votes. There is already a Libertarian running as well.
The more candidates on the ballot, the more choices for those voters who want to vote against Tierney rather than for someone else.
Check ou the Boston magazine article done in 2008 http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/2008/01/how-the-moultons-made-peace-with-the-war/
or Joe Klein’s Time Magazine article in April 2011 on the “next Great Generation”
Seems Mr. Moulton has an interesting story to tell…
…doesn’t that hurt Tierney?
If he claims that he would caucus with Democrats if elected, then he has to be favorable to Democratic and progressive leaning unaffiliated voters, which should mean that he would take votes from Tierney. I wonder who is really behind this. It sounds like another sneaky campaign trick.
Most people would be confused by his life story. Who goes into the Marines after going to Phillips and Harvard?
From the Crimson
He clearly is an outstanding overachieving individual with a tendency for self-promotion. His story is up everywhere he’s been and in general he’s all over the Web. He’s even written for the NYT.
One blog has him as “first of his generation to be president.”
Two points I’d like to make:
Very few superstar young people make it in politics. It’s just not part of the skill set. Most of the successful ones come from flawed backgrounds.
There is no indication that he has any ideas or stands for anything. Reminds me of a former co-worker who was an attorney and Marine reserve Major. He was thinking about running for office and I talked for a while with him. All he could really talk about were mom and apple pie issues. Also if this guy thinks he can raise a million he’s clearly high on drugs. No way there is any money out there for a first time independant.
One day story.
Whatever Moulton’s strengths and weaknesses this discussion already displays several assumptions.
The notion that someone had to put Mouton up to this–it could not possibly be his own idea (for better or for worse?) Why not?
Then there’s the assumption that Moulton has no ideas or stands–again with no evidence, but one can imagine that a Marine veteran who expressed interest from the political right might be greeted very differently.
As for having no ideas or stands, Senator Brown has very few (I won’t say none), but this merely seems to cement his credentials as a man of the people for many commentators. Mitt Romney, for his part, has one central idea (make me President because I deserve it), but even a cursory review of his record over the last 1 years reveals no actual stands, so I’m not sure why Massachusetts Republicans (or Republican-leaning Independents) would be upset with an absence of ideas or stands, should this be the case.
Or any time span you want.
about running for President before he had a record to attack (like Kerry).
Romney has a record of saying things while running for office a number of times. It may be a little “flip-floppy” but you get some sense of it.
Just by being an independent you get no sense of this guys views and there’s nothing posted. If this guy came forward at some point as a Republican and said he was interested in running for office I’m sure people would listen. This however is just odd.
There’s something that smells very funky about this, like the candidate is a stooge.
If he’s not, he’s incredibly naive to think he can just jump in the race in the middle of the summer and have a shot. And unless he’s a self-made multi-millionaire, there’s no way he’s raising a million dollars… even if his mommy and daddy in Marblehead have it (short of breaking campaign finance laws).
this fellow Seth Moulton is hardly a naive 30-something know-it-all-blow-hard…do some homework…there seems to be some serious and tested substance here…the reason why he has attracted attention is because he actually DID some things worth drawing attention. Boston magazine Feb 2008 story and Joe Klein’s April 2011 story about “the Next Great Generation” might shed some light…
Someone getting in *this* late in the game, magically thinking they can be competitive, either is a stooge or incredibly naive, neither of which is “serious candidate” territory.
It’s someone who sees a potentially very weak incumbent, and a challenger that a lot of folks are really not going to want to vote for in this environment.
I don’t know anything about the guy, but I don’t think he’s nuts for seeing an opportunity.
It wasn’t like this story was new. Yeah, it developed a little re: bitter brother-in-law, but it wasn’t new.
I still say it doesn’t pass the sniff test.
after Tierney resigns
Hit the nail on the head there or to get a head start on running against Tisei when he becomes the most vulnerable Republican house incumbent in 2014. I had heard of him before and he gave a great interview on NPR but e woul have to take real stands on the issues.
Typically Congressmen who run out of the blue as opposed to those that served in lower office tend to perform worse once elected. I’d advise him to run locally first and see if he is cut out for it and it’s also where he will have the greatest impact. I wish JKIII followed his cousin Patricks example and did that as well. For the record Moulton is far more qualifie than JKIII so it’s hypocritical to attack one and praise the other.
Doesn’t that entirely depend on what the criticism is based on?
HaHa
Who were the MA Dems who recruited Moulton???
According to the Reading Advocate Report:
” The idea to run for Congress was not his own, according to Moulton. He was approached by a group of individual Massachusetts Democrats involved in political circles, who felt it was a good idea for him to enter the race. Moulton declined to name the individuals. ‘Their reasoning, I imagine, is that they think Tierney’s going to lose,’ said Moulton.
Moulton said it’s too late to enter as a Democrat on the primary ballot in September, so he will enter as an independent.”
Read more: Marblehead’s Moulton mulls independent run to unseat Tierney – Reading, MA – The Reading Advocate http://www.wickedlocal.com/reading/news/x1992159828/Marbleheads-Moulton-mulls-independent-run-to-unseat-Tierney#ixzz20P2MV6EE
Just as being a dentist is about teeth, being a politician is about policy.
Right now, I see no stand on policy from Moulton, other than vague remarks about being “centrist” and “not a political guy.”
He’s going to run on his background in the Marine Corps, and contrast that with “Gambling Sleaze Tierney.”
BTW, Tierney’s scandal does not affect any of us in any way.
If Moulton gets in, and governs to the right of Tierney, it’s bad news.
But, I guess our rulers are picked by rich donors and media gasbags.
@ Ryan
It doesn’t depend on what the criticism is based on. They are the exact same age, one has already had significant experience in military and foreign affairs matters and has started a business career. He has advanced degrees in business and policy from Harvard. The other got a law degree from Harvard and worked a few years at the DA’s office. I would say that the former has significantly more policy experience than the latter. I will agree though that this does not mean he will make a better Congressmen, the article, which everyone should actually read before they jump to conclusions, shows that Moulton is a bright and interesting prospect but even his parents conceded he was stubborn and used to getting his way. Also in the military you have an easy chain of command to follow and do not have to deal with the deliberation, bureaucracy and gridlock of politics. I think an executive post, Mayor of somewhere for instance, might make more sense. Alternatively he should run locally first and get legislative experience. That goes for JK3 as well.
@MS
Not sure where any of these assumptions come from. We literally have no idea if Moulton got this idea on a whim, if he is being recruited by MA Democrats, or what. So the conspiracy theories have no basis in reality. What are valid questions to asks is where his stances on the issues are, most military types will say they are centrist or apolitical since that’s what the force dictates while you are serving, but in reality that could run a wide gamut of policy options.
Also Tierney’s scandal does affect his ability to serve and to lead. Even if his hands are clean, and again he has not effectively proven they are not and got the issue behind him, this investigation is bound to take its toll and its time on him and will prevent him from being effective. He should have resigned long ago, and David or someone else should tell me what happens if he does resign now in terms of who gets to replace him since what we might be seeing is Moulton being floated as a Dem replacement (in most areas after the primary the party gets to pick the new nominee right?).
As for Moulton he should move back and take firm stances on the important issues right now, I love his resume, his experience, and his passion about public service but literally have no idea what he stands for and if he is playing the Angus King card or the America Elect BS that we need more centrists in Washington than that does little to impress me.