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Jim Ogonowski

MA SEN: Survey USA - Ogo commanding primary lead - Kerry's re-elect number under 50%

Submitted by EaBo Clipper on Sat, 05/31/2008 - 19:56
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Giving John Kerry a race is going to be a lot of fun. -Patrick

Jon Keller is reporting that a new Survey USA poll shows Jim Ogonowski with a commanding lead over Jeff Beatty 60-14.  It also shows John Kerry with some general election weaknesses.

If he can manage to squeeze out enough certified signatures, Dracut hay farmer Jim Ogonowski will start off with a big name-recognition boost from his run in the Fifth Congressional District special last year and a 60% to 14% bulge over Jeff Beatty. (Full disclosure: my adult son, now communications director for the Massachusetts Republican Party, worked on Ogonowski's 2007 congressional campaign.) With 26% undecided, that lead could fade fast; it'll vanish altogether of Ogonowski can't get on the ballot, an unpardonable organizational sin.

With all due respect to the game but hapless Republicans, the real issue is: are the voters sick of John Kerry? By a too-close-for-comfort 48% to 42%, they say he deserves to be re-elected. And the biggest warning sign for Kerry is that 49% of the voters say he "spends too little time on Massachusetts issues." Only 36% say he "spends about the right amount of time." This is a longstanding complaint about Kerry that he has been trying for years to dispel, with mixed success, apparently. It is far and away his most significant political weakness, exacerbated over the years by unflattering comparisons of Kerry's DC output with that of the king of federal-grant rainmaking, Ted Kennedy. I hate to say it, but the need to make up for the potential, hopefully avoidable loss of Ted's clout could be very much on voters' minds come November, forcing Kerry to make a more persuasive case to voters here that they really are job #1 for him.

Ogonowski will be on the ballot.  When he is I'll give an update and ask you all to donate a few dollars.

MA SEN: John Kerry says, "we were at peace on September 11, 2001"

Submitted by EaBo Clipper on Fri, 05/30/2008 - 16:23
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Well looks like John Kerry has put foot in mouth yet again.  This time he claims that the US was "basically at peace on September 11, 2001."

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) believes that on September 11 "we were basically at peace."

Asked to clarify his remarks, specifically asking about the attacks on the U.S.S. Cole during Barack Obama campaign conference call, Kerry said, "well, we hadn't declared war," The Hill's Sam Youngman reports.

Asked if al Qaeda was a threat at the time, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee said, "well yes, obviously they were a threat. But, fundamentally we were not at war at that point in time."

Kerry also called John McCain "out of step with history and facts."

So were we "basically at peace" on December 7, 1941 as well, Senator Kerry?  Jim Ogonowski has responded to John Kerry's comments in a press release.

"Either John Kerry is naïve or he is actually using this tragedy for political propaganda to capture more headlines for himself in this election cycle.

Does he know this was not the first attack on the very building taken down on September 11th?

Does he consider the bombings of our embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and on American troops on the U.S.S. Cole as being "basically at peace"?

On the morning of September 11, 2001, America and the world were reminded that evil in the hearts of only a few men can cause harm to many. Those attacks were not planned in a day. Islamic extremists had long before declared war on America and American interests.

While September 11th was a day of peace to John Kerry, for me it was the day I lost my brother. I think it would be very appropriate for John Kerry to apologize to the victims and the families of those lost on that day for his remarks."

 

MA-Sen: Ogo should make ballot here is why

Submitted by EaBo Clipper on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 07:20
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I put this comment up in response to Patrick's article. I felt it should also be a post.  Here is my take on the Ogo signature story.

There is a lot of misinformation out on the internets about this story.  Some even lists Jim as an airline pilot which he never was. So here's how the signature process works in Massachusetts and why I feel confident that Jim will have over 10,000 signatures at the end of the day.

Campaigns have about 2 months to gather the raw signatures necessary for ballot access.  It is adviseable to garner twice as many signatures as necessary to withstand the inevitable non-certifiable signatures.

Signatures for a candidate are only certifiable if they come from voters enrolled in the candidates party or unenrolled voters what we here in Massachusetts call independents.

The signatures are turned in to town and city halls for verification of the signatures.  During that process names that are either illegible, not of the requisite party registration, or are note enrolled as a voter at all are disqualified.  The town clerks are supposed to use an on-line system from the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office to register the signatures in a central location.  This is the system that shows 9918 signatures. 

The town clerks have until a specified date, in this case May 27, 2008 at 5pm to certify the signatures.  The law states they must certify it does not state they must enter the signatures into the electronic system to my knowledge.  Routinely the signature count in the system is lower than the actual number of signatures verified. It was so in 2002 on a congressional campaign I worked on.

Then one week after the town clerks are supposed to finish signature certification the nomination papers are due at the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office.  During that time a candidate or his team may contest that uncertified signatures are valid, and often will win the challenges upon second looks.

For two reasons I am confident that Jim Ogonowski will gain over the 10,000 signatures required for ballot access.

1) the fact that there are signatures from towns that did not use the Secretary of the Commonwealth's system for certification.  I have been assured by the campaign as was the Boston Globe that the number will bring them over the threshold.

2) the campaign has been challenging uncounted signatures at town and city halls statewide and have been adding to their count. A count that is not being updated in the electronic system.

For those reasons I am confident that Jim Ogonowski will have ballot access.  Do I wish the process would have been easier, yes.  But he'll be on the ballot in short order and this will be behind him.

 

MA-SEN: Ogo Off the Ballot?

Submitted by Patrick Ruffini on Wed, 05/28/2008 - 20:42
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UPDATE: EaBo Clipper from Red Mass Group responds saying Ogonowski should be fine.

Not good, if it pans out:

When the deadline for certification passed yesterday, Jim Ogonowski, the Republican leadership's choice to challenge US Senator John F. Kerry, was 82 signatures short of qualifying for the GOP primary ballot, according to the state's central voter registry.

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. ...

Even if Ogonowski does get the 82 signatures he needs, his fight probably is not over.

Election specialists say he will not have the needed cushion of extra signatures to insulate himself from legal challenges.

Ogonowski's only primary opponent, Jeff Beatty, is expected to challenge the validity of his signatures before the ballot law commission.

I like Ogonowski. I worked with a coalition of bloggers to raise $20,000 for his MA-5 special campaign last fall. Back then, he had a kick-butt volunteer operation and a ton of grassroots energy. It's at least a little mystifying that this is such a close call. Stuff like ballot access should not be a close call, not for a guy who's already on the air.

Read on.

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