On the trail with David Roulston, 2nd Worcester District

ATHOL -- CMassPolitics.com spoke with David Roulston, candidate for state representative in the Second Worcester District, as Roulston campaigned in downtown Athol.

Wednesday roundup: Deadline day

Today marked two important deadlines in the candidates' quest for their parties' nominations. First, today marked the last day a voter could register to vote or declare their enrollment in a political party. Secondly, August 25 also marked the last day candidates can receive campaign contributions and count them toward the July-August reporting period. The Telegram looks at the second:

In the 3rd Congressional District, U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, has raised an estimated $250,000 since July 1, said campaign manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. Combined with money raised earlier in the year, the campaign will have nearly $1 million on hand, Mr. Augustus said.

As of June 30, Mr. McGovern had raised more than $1 million — far more than the Republicans challenging him had raised — and had nearly $823,000 on hand....

Mr. [Brian] Herr [of Hopkinton] and Mr. [Marty] Lamb [of Holliston] were the only Republican opponents to submit FEC reports for the reporting period that ended June 30. In that period, Mr. Herr had raised more than $66,000 with about $23,000 left on hand, and Mr. Lamb of Holliston had raised nearly $49,000 with about $21,000 on hand.

The other candidates, Robert J. Chipman of Plainville; Robert A. Delle, formerly of Westboro, who now lives in Paxton; and Michael P. Stopa of Holliston, lag in fundraising. They have yet to submit any financial reports.

Chipman, Delle, and Stopa also get the treatment from the liberal alt-weekly Boston Phoenix, which looks at right-wing candidates running for Congress and refers to the three candidates as part of "a swarm of dubious characters, with little experience in politics, whose questionable beliefs are only just beginning to come to light."

Lamb has been getting some mileage out of his Congressional barf bags. He gets a mention from Michelle Malkin, which is a pretty big get. (Perhaps just as surprising is the news that Malkin's staff follows Worcester Mag's Jeremy Shulkin).

Four of the five candidates are scheduled to debate in Hopkinton tomorrow night.

Middlesex and Worcester Senate District
Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) spoke out against a proposal to move the caseload from Marlborough District Court to facilities in Ayer and Concord.
 
Eldridge, who strongly opposes casino gambling, told the Lowell Sun that the failure to pass casino legislation will be a plus for Gov. Deval Patrick's reelection campaign.
 
Second Franklin House District
David Roulston (D-Greenfield) announced that he has received the endorsement of Sheriff Frederick McDonald.

Weekend roundup: I've been everywhere, man

It's awfully difficult for a challenger to dominate the media cycle against an well-financed, high-ranking incumbent, but Tom Wesley (R-Hopedale) managed to do just that Friday in his Second Congressional District race against Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield). We'll start with the Telegram, where Wesley was the feature of Friday's candidate profile:

Mr. Wesley explained that these are tough economic times and that people have to be careful with their finances. He quickly added, however, that this election is about more than raising money.

“I see it as my patriotic duty,” he said when asked why he was running. “I'm fighting for unborn generations.” termed a lynchpin election, which means in his opinion the American way of life is at stake and people are angry with what has been happening on Capitol Hill.

In addition, Wesley was all over the radio, appearing on Springfield's WAQY-FM and WHYN-AM. He has also continued videotaping while driving.
 
For his part, Neal has received praise from the unlikeliest of sources. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, has endorsed Neal's bill to provide for automatic enrollment in IRAs for employees of small businesses:

The Automatic IRA is a conservative, market-oriented solution to help address our retirement savings crisis. It would increase the proportion of Americans who can save for retirement at work from 50 percent to 90 percent, make it simple for small business owners to offer IRAs to their employees, and create low-cost accounts that an employee can understand and use without having to be a financial expert.

Neal's proposal has also been endorsed by the more liberal Brookings Institution.

Elsewhere...

Third Congressional District
Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) continues to keep the pressure on Congress and the Obama administration over the cut in food stamp aid that was part of the $26 billion jobs bill:

"President Obama pledged to end childhood hunger by 2015," McGovern pointed out. "It's hard to see how you do that while you're cutting food stamps.''

Fifth Congressional District
In the Sentinel, columnist Peter Lucas calls Tom Weaver (R-Westford) "the most qualified candidate you never heard of."

Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell) was in Harvard to tout federal funding for a 220-kilowatt solar power facility at Carlson Orchards.

First Middlesex District
Tony Saboliauskas (D-Pepperell) is part of a group trying to get permission to erect a "Support our Troops" sign on town land in Pepperell.

Second Franklin House District
Earlier this week, David Roulston (D-Greenfield) became the latest candidate to criticize the proposed biomass plant in Greenfield.

Middlesex and Worcester Senate District
The communications director for Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) is taking time off during the fall recess to work for the campaign of Ninth District Congressman Stephen Lynch (D-South Boston).

Worcester County Sheriff
Lew Evangelidis (R-Holden) recently visited the Hampden County Sheriff to get some tips on programs for inmates.

Campaign odds and ends: Lights, camera, action!

While I try to keep up with the campaigns, stuff falls through the cracks or gets lost in the Internet. So I took a look around to see what I've been missing over the last week or so. Apparently I've been missing lots of local TV and radio appearances. So here is a roundup of stuff that hasn't been making the roundups...

Second Congressional District

Tom Wesley (R-Hopedale) spoke out about President Obama choosing to film The View instead of making a speech to the Boy Scouts. While the legislature just outlawed texting while driving, apparently videotaping web commercials while driving is still legal. Look out for that truck, Tom!

Second Franklin House District
Greenfield Community Television has posted brief video statements from the five candidates:
Steven Adam (R-Orange)
Denise Andrews (D-Orange)
Lee Chauvette (D-Athol)
David Roulston (D-Greenfield)
Roxanne Wedegartner (D-Greenfield)

First Congressional District
Greenfield Community Television also has a video statement from Bill Gunn (R-Belchertown).

Fifth Congressional District
The Groton Channel has also been hosting some candidates. Jon Golnik (R-Carlisle) made an appearance last week.

Eighth Worcester House District
Rep. George Peterson (R-Grafton) called in to the Jeff Katz Show on WXKS-AM to talk about the sales tax holiday and the end of the legislative session.

Sixth Worcester House District
Peter Durant (R-Spencer) visited with Jane Woodworth of WESO-AM radio. In his current role as Spencer Selectman, Durant and the other members of the board are considering fines for utility companies who do not clean up old utility poles.

12th Worcester House District
Treasurer Tim Cahill recognized Rep. Harold Naughton (D-Clinton) for his leadership in retroactively extending the Welcome Home Bonus for Vietnam Veterans to include veterans who served from 1973-1975.

Challenger James Gettens (R-Sterling) criticized Naughton for voting to streamline the approval of wind energy projects by bypassing local planning boards.

Worcester County Sheriff
Finally, Scot Bove (D-Holden) announced that he has received the endorsements of the Worcester County Superior Officers (Local 275) and the Worcester County Corrections Officers (Local 550).

Saturday roundup: McGovern keeps up the pressure on Afghanistan

Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) continued his anti-war advocacy with a column in Friday's Telegram. The congressman explained his vote against the $33 billion war appropriations bill:

I voted in 2001 to go to war in Afghanistan — to hunt down al-Qaida and eliminate their threat. I would cast that same vote today — in a heartbeat. Al-Qaida remains a threat, and we must redouble our efforts to destroy them wherever they are — in Pakistan, in Yemen, in Somalia, and elsewhere around the world.

But what we are doing in Afghanistan today is far beyond that original authorization. We are engaged in extensive, expensive “nation-building” in a very complicated, dangerous part of the world.

And frankly, given the level of unemployment and the severe economic situation we face in the United States, I’d rather do a little more “nation-building” here at home.

Speaking to the Attleboro Sun-Chronicle, McGovern laid out his support for allowing the Bush-era tax cuts to expire on families making over $250,000. "I'm sorry, if Donald Trump doesn't get a tax break it's not the end of the world," he said.

Elsewhere in the Third Congressional District, Robert Delle (R-Westboro) is calling for a boycott of New York City over the planned mosque and Islamic Cutural Center a couple of blocks from the former site of the World Trade Center. I can think of a dozen or more reasons to stay away from New York, but that wouldn't be one of them.

Fifth Congressional District
Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell) gave a detailed explanation of her vote against the Afghanistan military authorization.
 
Sam Meas (R-Haverhill) gets his second national profile in a week, as The Weekly Standard checks in on the campaign. Meas characterizes Tsongas as "so convoluted, she’s so out of touch."

13th Worcester House District
Margot Barnet (D-Worcester) introduces herself to the community at Blue Mass Group. She also revvealed that she is a longtime BMG member with a paper trail.

Ronal Madnick (U-Worcester) will be hosting a debate next week between the four candidates for sheriff. Shaun Sutner of the Telegram wonders if having a candidate in one race moderate a debate in another is a "possible election-season conflict of interest."
 
Second Franklin House District
For what it's worth, Madnick won't be the first rep candidate this cycle to moderate a debate for another office. David Roulston (D-Greenfield) hosted a debate between the Northwestern District Attorney candidates earlier this week.
 
First Middlesex House District
In his role as a member of Ayer's Finance Committee, Jesse Reich (D-Ayer) defended the agenda of the upcoming meeting of finance committees across the region.
 
Sheila Harrington (R-Groton) announced some upcoming events. She will be hosting a night of billiards in Ayer later this week, and giving away ice cream in Dunstable and Groton next month.