Having called a press conference to announce that he was forming an exploratory committee to assess whether he really wanted to run for Senate, today Blue Mass Group regular Dan Winslow seems to have officially entered the race by telling a Globe reporter “I’m in.” The reporter then sent the news out over Twitter. Curious.
Anyway, the same reporter relates that Dan has donated $100,000 to his campaign to get things rolling. And they will need to roll quickly: he has less than three weeks to collect 10,000 signatures, all of which must be from registered Republicans (are there even 10,000 in the state?) or unenrolled voters. Further, the timing of what could be one of the largest snowstorms ever to hit Massachusetts couldn’t be worse: forecasters are predicting that by Saturday, the entire state will be covered in at least a foot of snow, with possibly record-setting amounts exceeding two feet in the Boston area. (If you’re keeping track: the highest snowfall ever recorded in Boston was 27.6 inches in February, 2003, with the famous Blizzard of 1978 in second place at 27.1 inches.)
Among other things, the possibly epic snowstorm means that Team Winslow will have that many fewer days to mount a serious signature-gathering effort. Of course, so far he has no opposition in the primary, so maybe it won’t matter that much (if he has no primary opposition, he needs only to obtain 10,000 write-in votes on primary day to make it to the general election).
Oh, by the way, this is a really big storm. Make sure that you and your family are ready, and try to stay off the roads Friday once the snow starts falling!
kate says
Let’s say that you start collecting signatures on Sunday. You have 18 days to collect signatures and get them to the appropriate Town or City Clerk. If you collect 1000 raw signatures every day and have a 75% certification rate, then you will have 1350 certified signatures. That would be a decent buffer. Can he get 1000 signatures every day starting on Sunday? And get them to the right place by 5 PM on 2/27?
fans361 says
He has a number of paid vendors to help him out in addition to enough loyal volunteers. My guess is that he will be the only Republican who will be able to gather the signatures before the deadline. Remember that that a majority of the voters in Massachusetts are unenrolled so his potential base of signers is large enough to attract a large portion of the state population at malls and grocery stores along with traditional canvassing.
Christopher says
…impact every candidate’s signature gathering operation? You make it sound as though it’s a unique challenge for Winslow.
David says
than it is for Markey and Lynch for two reasons: (1) he hasn’t started yet; and (2) he can’t take signatures from registered Dems, which means rather than concentrate his efforts in big cities where there a lot of people (many of whom tend to be registered Dems), he has to take a more spread-out, more logistically complicated approach. Just parking your operation in Boston, Worcester, and Springfield would probably suffice for the Democratic candidates.
Jack Mitchell says
I’d add, Dems are gathering in the month of February. Both Markey and Lynch will benefit from the concentration of ‘low hanging fruit.’ Dems should certainly encourage others to attend their local Caucus.
Republicans suffer from low party enrollment, thus rely on unenrolleds, who don’t caucus.
kate says
in off years. I think that they have a convention only in nominating years.
Bob Neer says
How would you attract 10,000 Massachusetts Republicans to one place, in order to sign Rep. Winslow’s petition papers. A BMG mug to the best suggestion.
Here is mine: stage a protest outside the Museum of Science accusing its trustees of administering a partisan political organization that backs the Democratic Party and demanding that its tax-exempt status be revoked.
sabutai says
I’d avoid Boston…too many counter protests and too hard to get trucks in there.
Send Scott Brown to introduce Curt Schilling in Worcester to explain how the Red Sox would win the World Series next year were it not for the fact that players want to avoid the way Massachusetts holds back true talent with its socialistic impulses.
Ryan says
In Lynnfield. That should do the trick…
sue-kennedy says
Romney fireworks display.
whosmindingdemint says
WOW. I bet Dan wishes there was such a thing as global warming 🙂
jconway says
It will surely be wasted
joeltpatterson says
Republicans have ways of always getting more money from conservative voters...