Massachusetts Realist - Thank you Ed O’Reilly for your Heroic run Against John Kerry

Ed O’Reilly, an attorney from Gloucester, Massachusetts lost his primary bid against entrenched incumbent John Kerry in Tuesday’s primary. The Associated Press reported that Kerry had managed to hold onto his seat at 8:12 pm, with less than 1 percent of the precincts reporting in. The primary was not without controversy; many Bay State voters were not notified of a change in polling stations; making it impossible for them to cast a vote. Apparently, the Massachusetts Legislature is being blamed because of an unrelated political battle that set business back a few weeks. How many of those disenfranchised voters would have cast their ballot for O’Reilly is most likely moot, due to the apparent overwhelming support for the junior senator (despite polls to the contrary). O’Reilly was underfunded but undeterred during a campaign that did give the 24 year sitting Senator who has not authored a piece of legislation since 1999, a run for his money. Therefore - hats off to Ed O’Reilly for putting his life on hold and trying to do the right thing for his party in the population starved, over taxed Bay State.

Kerry, who was the first to bring Barack Obama to the spotlight during his 2004 campaign and also the first to endorse Obama’s candidacy for President, will now face Republican Jeff Beatty, a new-order Republican with a substantial grassroots organization and the blessings of the NRSC. The Beatty campaign will kick of a state wide media blitz today. Although the odds and the climate favored O’Reilly over Kerry, (and many Massachusetts Democrats expressed surprise that Kerry managed to hold onto his seat), perhaps those who ponder “how could this have happened, will not follow in November with “I did not have time to make it to the polls”. If one wants change, one has to get to the polling place and effect change – unless of course, you live in areas of Massachusetts where your polling place is suddenly “moved” with no notification.