The race to fill former Senator Anthony Galluccio’s empty seat is beginning to take shape and form.
Attorney Tim Flaherty, who ran against Galluccio the last time around, showed up at Tito’s when the governor visited Chelsea on Monday morning. Candidate Michael Albano was also there. As was Everett City Councillor and candidate for senate Sal DiDomenico.
From the onset, Flaherty has the look and the feel of an early favorite in the race.
He has that look and feel because his organization got off the ground first, has organized quickly and he is able to raise funds. When the Coast Guard’s decision to allow the Yemen based LNG tankers to come into Boston Harbor was announced Tuesday, he was the first to roundly condemn the action with a well-worded press release.
DiDomenico is campaigning actively, having been seen this week at various events in Everett, Chelsea, Charlestown and Cambridge.
Chelsea candidate Albano is putting together his campaign apparatus. It is likely Albano will also be able to raise money. However, coming out of Chelsea with your base here is problematic when running for the state senate in a sprawling district, as former Chelsea councilor Paul Nowicki found out when he ran against Galluccio in 2007 in a special election when Sen. Jarrett Barrios resigned.
However, Nowicki finished second in the race, in a surprising show of strength.
Nowicki has already endorsed Flaherty, which is a fly in the ointment for Albano.
Charlestown candidate Attorney Dan Hill uses the political vocabulary and has the ability to speak as well as the look and the feel of a seasoned politician and policy maker but he has no money.
Money isn’t everything in life – but in this race, it is almost everything.
Above all, this is a short horse race on a fast track.
We have heard from six time Cambridge City Councillor Marjorie Decker – but we haven’t been sent anything from her campaign, yet.
She may be a force in Cambridge but in Charlestown, Chelsea, Everett and Revere she will have her work cut out for herself if she doesn’t get her campaign moving in order to receive some name recognition in places where she is virtually unknown.
DiDomenico, some say, is employing political strategy in persuading a Cambridge lawyer, Dennis Benzan, to run for the seat.
Benzan does not presently live in the district.
If Benzan and Decker can draw enough votes away from the others, and DiDomenico can carry Everett, he would have a good chance of taking the seat.
However, Flaherty’s strength lies in his behind the scenes political operatives as well as his name recognition.
Attorney Richard Lynds is running Flaherty’s campaign.
Lynds is a wizard at identifying the vote and getting out the vote. He is also a stickler when it comes to advertising and message.
It is early in this race but battle lines are being drawn.
With the miracle of Scott Brown still perceptibly present in the political atmosphere, this race takes on a special aura.
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