Boston Globe: Ogonowski falls short on signature deadline

Heard it on Channel 5 (5.00 / 1)

They didn't even mention Beatty, and spoke as if only Jim was running. It's interesting how the Boston media acknowledges one, but not the other.  

“The family does not exist for society or the state, but society and the state exist for the family.” "People have no problem trying to influence other people's children, but no one wants someone influencing their own."

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by: Renee @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 08:00:20 AM CDT

They've had a lot of prompting in that department! (0.00 / 0)

To be fair, I watched Ogo work a room at a lunch, and Lisa Hughes and colleagues were falling all over him about how the campaign was going, etc., etc., and he did very well.

But if he saw it as his role to schmooze Boston media, well, he needed a team behind him to get the signatures, didn't he?

Yr. Obedient Servant, Peter Porcupine, Republican

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by: Peter Porcupine @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 08:43:50 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

The Boston Media doesn't acknowledge much outside the128 Belt. (0.00 / 0)

"I ask none to live for me, nor do I live for any others" Anthem by Ayn Rand  

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by: kyllacon @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 19:43:33 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

From a guy who voted for Ogo (0.00 / 0)

This is an embarassment to the campaign. Even if he ends up making it on to the ballot, it doesn't inspire a great deal of confidence in the type of campaign he could run against Kerry. How could the campaign that has what would seem to be overwhelming institutional support come even remotely close to failing to make the ballot?

John Kerry's job is getting more secure by the day.

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by: chrisinandover @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 08:06:14 AM CDT

Exactly.. (2.00 / 1)

Which is why I am so suspicious of the brass. Did Jeff Beatty screw up the plan to give Kerry a choreographed cakewalk?

Listen to me on 1420 AM New Bedford from 2-6 PM or over the internet at www.wbsm.com from 2-6 PM. You can also go to my blog at www.kenpittman.com

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by: Ken Pittman @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 08:39:10 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Globe: (0.00 / 0)

But Ogonowski's campaign aides contend there are enough certified signatures at various town offices around the state not filed yet on the computerized registry to put him across the 10,000 threshold.

The majority of those clerks have shipped their results to the secretary of state's office via computer, but some may still be submitting the certifications by hand.

He'll get > 82, no problem. Beatty's challenge is DOA.  

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by: republicanvoices @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 08:49:11 AM CDT

Possibly make it but the damage is done (0.00 / 0)

With Ogonowski only needing 82 signatures to get upon the ballot and the possibility of certifications by hand still to come in to Galvin's office I assume, perhaps wrongly, that Ogo will make the ballot.  

However, potential Beatty challenges aside, I think the PR damage is done and the Globe, et al will almost certainly hammer away at the Ogonowski campaign for being the Barney Fife of US Senate candidates considering the aforementioned contrast between the "professional" Ogo campaign versus the well, green country hicks of the Beatty campaign.  

That being said, neither comparison is fair to the respective campaigns & neither should be accepted by the activists or the voters.  However, perception is far too often reality & I have a feeling that it's likely that the Beatty campaign's stock will rise as well, he's the little engine that could & the Ogonowski campaign's stock may likely plummet - even if he makes the ballot in a squeaker.

It's sad, it's not fair, and we probably all know better about both sides but it may just be the final taste left in everyone's mouth.  Maybe, just maybe if the signature counts are correct then Beatty comes out of this looking like the last man standing while Ogo looks like the an accidental suicide.

What's perhaps worse is that considering all the media attention paid to Jim Ogonowski, I fear that even if he is uncontested that Jeff Beatty will be unjustly ignored and the race will be treated as if it's a John Kerry coronation.  

I'm a Beatty supporter so I can find a silver lining in this story but the last thing I want is for our Party to get yet another punch to the gut about being unable to field a candidate - and this one rather high profiled.  I simply cannot believe that Ogo & Company let themselves be put in this position.

The question that needs to be answered very soon, if not now, is... how can the Beatty boys attract Ogo's (soon to be former?) supporters assuming that all these stories are indeed true.  CAN Beatty attract the Ogo people?  Has the Beatty/Ogonowski rift been so wide that it has become an unbridgeable divide?  Will grudges be too deep and too bitter?  Will Party loyalty and the desire to put aside differences for the common good win the day?  These questions may still be a little premature but in some context they are likely to appear upon the horizon perhaps sooner if not later.

"Tomorrow will be better for as long as America keeps alive the ideals of freedom and a better life." - Walt Disney

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by: BNCordeiro @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 09:12:02 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I wouldn't worry (5.00 / 1)

I wouldn't worry about the rift between Ogo and Beatty supporters being too great to overcome.

The only 20 people that have paid any attention to this race are all regular posters on this Web site. The majority of the voters probably can't name either candidate running yet.

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by: marktmcl @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 10:43:59 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Good point, but.... (0.00 / 0)

I agree with you that well, the vast majority of the electorate hasn't remotely put this race on its radar screen so the majority of voters aren't likely to be affected by the rift.

However, it would seem to me - and perhaps I'm too close to the matter to be totally objective - that the activists who would be at the center of any post-primary/post-signature failing campaign behind Beatty (or Ogonowski, as the case might be) may just be too disaffected, too jaded, too burned to get back in the sandbox and play well with each other.

I don't exactly remember Weld/Pierce but I remember Rappaport/Healey quite well and it seems to me that Beatty/Ogonowski makes that look like child's play.

"Tomorrow will be better for as long as America keeps alive the ideals of freedom and a better life." - Walt Disney

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by: BNCordeiro @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 10:49:16 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Brock - Nah. Weld-Peirce was the Gold Standard feud, as was Cellucci-Malone. Rappaport-Healey was a Silver, but this is barely a bronze. (0.00 / 0)

Yr. Obedient Servant, Peter Porcupine, Republican

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by: Peter Porcupine @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 11:12:09 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Probably so (0.00 / 0)

At still 29-years-old (despite my birthday swiftly approaching in less than 30 weeks), my historical perspective does skew things slightly.  I'll grant you the gold & silver standards but as deeply involved as I was in Rappaport vs. Healey I don't remember it being nearly this bitter, this vitriolic as the pit fight between Beatty & Ogonowski.  

"Tomorrow will be better for as long as America keeps alive the ideals of freedom and a better life." - Walt Disney

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by: BNCordeiro @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 11:22:01 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Must be getting old (0.00 / 0)

30 weeks?  Geeezh, turn 30 in about 3 weeks and look at all the silly typos.  I really must be getting old.  

Man, do I really need my upcoming vacation.  16 days in Walt Disney World & other central Florida theme parks here I come!!!

BTW - Everyone does know that Walt Disney was a diehard anti-communist/pro-Goldwater conservative Republican... right?!  :)  

"Tomorrow will be better for as long as America keeps alive the ideals of freedom and a better life." - Walt Disney

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by: BNCordeiro @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 12:15:39 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Brock and Wave - it isn't the CANDIDATES... (0.00 / 0)

...it's their ADHERENTS.

Wave - remember Ed Teague vs. Henri?  Jerry Sullivan vs. Howard Cahoon?  And the LONGEVITY of the animus.  And Wave - it's ALWAYS for the soul of the Party....

That's why I give Rappaport-Healey a silver - a scant 4 years later, and the two sides are ALREADY talking to each other again!  And Brock - if you didn't see vitriol in that campaign at the time, you were just in the wrong neighborhood.  I was one the few Cape Coders at the Healey victory celebration, where Jim did his little walk-on, walk-off (me, Mary LeClair, Matt Murphy...precious few).  The others were all across the street at Rappaport HQ.

Which is why I think this will be a bronze.  The urgency of unseating Kerry, like the desire to defeat Deval, will bring the sides close together sooner, and not allow wounds to fester.

Yr. Obedient Servant, Peter Porcupine, Republican

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by: Peter Porcupine @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 12:21:18 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Valid Distinction (0.00 / 0)

I'll grant you the distinction between candidates & supporters.  

However, it's not that I didn't see vitriol during the Rappaport/Healey feud but it seems that Beatty/Ogonowski not only builds upon the foundation of previous fights but is kicking it up notches previously unknown to mankind (to borrow a phrase from a famous SouthCoast native).

I, too, was at the Healey victory part.  Actually, I was at the Rappaport event and once he conceded a friend of mine & I literally walked across the street to join Kerry Healey and to get on board fully with the 2002 Romney/Healey ticket.  

Ironically, I met both Kerry Healey & Jim Rappaport on the same day, I believe it was just after she became chair of the party, when they were both down in New Bedford at the Wamsutta Club for a Republican Club of Southeastern Mass luncheon.  I liked Jim instantly & signed on as a volunteer.  I was torn when Healey jumped into the race but I stayed loyal to Jim and was one of those who flooded the convention floor in support of Rappaport.  Come primary day, Jim lost and I then - and I believe the same now - rallied around the winner to play my very small part in unifying the party.  

Undeniably there was bitterness between the adherents of Rappaport & Healey, indeed it persists to this very day in far too many instances.  However, having been up close in 2002 & now relatively close in 2008... it appears to me that the followers are going for the jugular far much more frequently this time around.

"Tomorrow will be better for as long as America keeps alive the ideals of freedom and a better life." - Walt Disney

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by: BNCordeiro @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 12:38:21 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Come to think of it, (5.00 / 2)

can it be said that the Rappaport people were resentful of the Party leaders turning their backs on him just like the Beatty people are resentful of them shunning him?

Of course the difference would be that Rappaport spent several years raising (and giving) tons of money as the chairman -- and he did a pretty good job (even if it was done mostly to set up his own race).

Still, it also so that the Party preference was the more moderate candidate.

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by: wavemaker @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 13:58:09 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Which is why bona fide Leader neutrality is so important! (0.00 / 0)

Likewise - mutual pledges to support THE NOMINEE.

(Me, I remember seeing Jim at the convention; in fact, I stayed in his hotel.  And as we talked, I thought - Could this guy subordinate his OWN ideas to somebody else's?  Can he say soemthing HE doesn't believe, but is Administration policy, convincingly, or even with a straight face?  I knew the answer was No, and was the only one of my TC NOT to vote for Jim - but if he'd won, I'd have worked for him.)

Yr. Obedient Servant, Peter Porcupine, Republican

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by: Peter Porcupine @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 14:42:29 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Funny, I was (5.00 / 1)

elbow-deep in the Pierce campaign, and I don't remember much animosity, at least not at the HQ level. We had a lot of jousting back and forth having to do with "life station" sorts of jokes, but even at the convention floor level, the collegiality between Weld and Pierce people was unusual (at least where I was, which was in your delegation!).

My favorite Bill Weld line, heard during one of the pre-convention receptions, when someone asked him how his family made their money:

"We don't make money. We have money."

Rappaport Healey was understandably fierce, because -- well, because Jim is a very polarizing figure. Cellooch and Malone, that was a well-matured fight for the soul of the party. I only wish Malone had won.

Boy how I wish Malone had won.

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by: wavemaker @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 12:01:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I doubt there will be any damage if Ogonowski makes it, considering that not a lot of voters are really paying attention to the Senate race at this point. (0.00 / 0)

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by: republicanvoices @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 12:39:18 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

You Hope:) (0.00 / 0)

"I ask none to live for me, nor do I live for any others" Anthem by Ayn Rand  

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by: kyllacon @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 19:49:39 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

You Hope :) (0.00 / 0)

"I ask none to live for me, nor do I live for any others" Anthem by Ayn Rand  

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by: kyllacon @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 19:46:17 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Cool Cal - if the rumor about 11,000 is true - there will hopefully be no damage and the Ogonowski campaign should fire back appropriately on this speculation. (0.00 / 0)

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by: republicanvoices @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 08:51:06 AM CDT

Was the rumor that he was less than 90 short also from reliable sources or the Globe? (0.00 / 0)

Also, does anyone know whether the Ogonowski campaign is able to challenge incorrect signature rejections at Galvin's office?  

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by: republicanvoices @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 08:55:06 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

See my comment below, Arvee (0.00 / 0)

"Paul Ferro for higher office!   Pounds Fist on Table!"

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by: Paul "Cool Cal" Ferro @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 08:56:47 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

All I'll say is this... (0.00 / 0)

I spent last Saturday with a "despondent" Ogo supporter who kept getting text-message updates as the Ogo campaign challenges of sheets came in, and the number kept creeping up.

So I can see why the Globe is reporting this.  I hope that Ogo will make it, if only because I think it is horrible when a GOP candidate fails to make the ballot, whether it were Ogo, Beatty, or Jack E. Robinson!

"Paul Ferro for higher office!   Pounds Fist on Table!"

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by: Paul "Cool Cal" Ferro @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 08:56:20 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

still want Beatty but (0.00 / 0)

I like the Ogo too.......I hope he comes in with a thousand sigs on June 3rd!  

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by: Republican Rock Radio 2 1/2 @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 08:56:28 AM CDT

Just for the image of Republicans (0.00 / 0)

I would hope Ogonowski clears the hurdle but no one should suggest they are not sweating bullets right now.

Listen to me on 1420 AM New Bedford from 2-6 PM or over the internet at www.wbsm.com from 2-6 PM. You can also go to my blog at www.kenpittman.com

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by: Ken Pittman @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 08:58:39 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

How is EaBo doing? (0.00 / 0)

Did he hear about this yet?

Has anyone talked to him this morning?  

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by: Republican Rock Radio 2 1/2 @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 09:03:13 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

EaBo (0.00 / 0)

Eabo is remaining remarkably quiet thus far.

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by: marktmcl @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 10:45:51 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Agreed (0.00 / 0)

My sentiments, exactly.  I just took maaaaaaaaaany more words to express it!  :)  

"Tomorrow will be better for as long as America keeps alive the ideals of freedom and a better life." - Walt Disney

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by: BNCordeiro @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 09:13:42 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Different protocol than state races? (5.00 / 1)

I know that in a state-level race, the campaign is responsible for transporting the signatures that have been certified by town hall to the Secretary's office in order for them to be counted. Is that not the case for federal or statewide races?

The article makes it sound like once the signatures are certified by town hall and entered into the statewide database, they're all set.

Also, if town halls are not meeting their deadline to certify the signatures, that's an issue in and of itself that Ogo should be publicizing to take some of the heat off him.

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by: eury13 @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 09:05:21 AM CDT

You are making an excellent point: (0.00 / 0)

The statewide campaigns have until June 3rd to transport signatures to Secretary Galvin's office. The only thing that counts is how many signatures are filed by the campaigns on June 3rd.

The town halls have met the deadlines, as far as I am aware. According to the Globe, the majority have made the SoS office aware of their certified signatures, but there are a number of towns which have not. The Ogonowski campaign has between now and June 3rd to pick up all their signatures from the town halls and make as many challenges as they can to increase their number.

Then, they still have to face the Beatty campaign's DOA challenge...  

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by: republicanvoices @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 09:12:39 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

It has been my experience (5.00 / 2)

that the Secretary of State's computer system is not the be all and end all.  When I was involved in the McCarthy campaign in 2002 the final numbers we had and the Secretary of State's system did not match up.  Even Frank Phillips has stated in his article that some towns may not have used the system to enter in their numbers.  

That is why the only thing that matters as eury and arvee have stated is what is turned into the Secretary of State's office.  Do I wish Jim had 17000 signatures yes.  Will he no.  Will he make the ballot. Yes I have all confidence of that.  

On another note before I don't talk about this until after June 3 again.  For anybody who knows anything a)about Jim Ogonowski, or b) about signature gathering to suggest that his campaign would a)forge signatures, or b)have complete control of every signature sheet when any tom dick or harry can turn in a signature sheet at a town hall and then deliver them to teh secretary of state's office themselves is dillusional.  

Have a great week. Talk to you all about this on June 4.

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by: Rob "EaBo Clipper" Eno @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 09:12:08 AM CDT

How did the Ogo fundraiser go at Taj in Boston (0.00 / 0)

I looked on Ogonowski's website and Googled the event but found nothing. Was it cancelled?

Listen to me on 1420 AM New Bedford from 2-6 PM or over the internet at www.wbsm.com from 2-6 PM. You can also go to my blog at www.kenpittman.com

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by: Ken Pittman @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 10:05:41 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

No: (0.00 / 0)

http://www.jimogonowski.com/pr...

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by: republicanvoices @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 10:12:59 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

guess ken didn't look that far........ (0.00 / 0)

Thought he was a PI.  (Ken I'm just kidding).....

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by: Rob "EaBo Clipper" Eno @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 10:15:02 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Very well thank you for asking. (0.00 / 0)

They met their goals I am told.  

The event at the Ogonowski Farm was a success this weekend as well.  

Not every event gets publicized Ken.  

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by: Rob "EaBo Clipper" Eno @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 10:13:48 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

"The event at the Ogonowski Farm was a success this weekend as well." (0.00 / 0)

I heard Pittman was spying on you guys through binoculars, while hiding in a bale of hay.

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by: Republican Rock Radio 2 1/2 @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 10:37:33 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

You sir get the first annual (0.00 / 0)

Eddie Haskel award.

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by: Rob "EaBo Clipper" Eno @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 11:53:22 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

nah he wouldn't do that. (0.00 / 0)

he'd get hayseeds in his topsiders.

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by: wavemaker @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 12:03:32 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

It would have been much easier (0.00 / 0)

to infiltrate the party as Wave's colostomy bag tech but I opted out. I never like to be around that much plaid and Art Deco.

Listen to me on 1420 AM New Bedford from 2-6 PM or over the internet at www.wbsm.com from 2-6 PM. You can also go to my blog at www.kenpittman.com

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by: Ken Pittman @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 12:12:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

you're right, that (0.00 / 0)

costume wouldn't have cost you a dime!

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by: wavemaker @ Wed May 28, 2008 at 12:14:06 PM CDT

[ Parent ]