Anyone who cares probably heard this already, but it’s official, per the Boston Globe:
Scott Brown, who surprised the political world with his upset victory in the 2010 special election, announced Friday afternoon that he will not enter the special election to replace John F. Kerry…
Brown’s announcement was unusual. Rather than a formal press conference or statement, he initially released the news to the Boston Herald in a text message that said “U are the first to know.” His spokesman later confirmed the news to the Globe in a text that read “Not running.”
What an astute use of the new social media! will be the Media Villager cry. Bqhatevwr, Scottie.
Brown’s decision leaves the Republican Party scrambling to find a viable candidate for the June 25 election. To make the ballot, candidates must gather 10,000 certified signatures in four weeks. Brown had long been considered the party’s strongest and most likely candidate. The party may now turn to former governor William F. Weld or former lieutenant governor Kerry Healey. Beyond that, the list of credible candidates is thin…
State committeeman Steve Aylward said his fellow activists are upset that Brown bowed out immediately after his chosen chairman was elected to lead the party. Kirsten Hughes only narrowly won the chairmanship Thursday night, after a big push by Brown to get her elected.
“One of the reasons for voting for Kirsten was that Scott Brown was running for Senate and needed her to be there,” said Aylward, who supported Hughes’ opponent. “Now one day afterward, he decides not to run for it? I think I’m speaking for a lot of the grassroots activists who are going to say, ‘this doesn’t pass the smell test.’ ”…
Well, it proves that ex-Senator Centerfold is, if no Haaavad praFESsah, at least wicked smaahtah than he acted during his last campaign. Notice I do not say “we” won’t have Scotty to kick around, because this would seem to confirm that he’ll sooth his political jones by running for governor next year, like all the smart money was telling him. So us Massholes will be assaulted by those barn-coat-n-pickup commercials again, and there’s a reasonable chance I’ll be bitching about Governor Brown come 2015. On the positive side, there’s hella less damage Scotty can do back here in the Commonwealth (God save it!, as Mr. Pierce would say).
And while I have every reason to believe that Ed Markey will be the junior senator from Massachusetts this time next year, and will do what I can to make it so, it will be… entertaining… if Bill Weld ends up running. Weld’s sensible-moderate Republican career got derailed by Jesse Helms (R-KKK) in an early demo of the GOP’s rising Regressive Resentment strategy. He has no reason to love the Ignernt Ijiit wing of his party, and I doubt they’ll embrace his candidacy, either.
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Apart from toasting confusion to our enemies, what’s on the agenda for the start of the weekend?
Open Thread: You Won’t Have Cosmo Boy to Kick Around Any More…Post + Comments (107)