Whether you are living in Pittsfield or Provincetown, New Bedford or Bedford you have probably not heard much from the state committee for the Republican Party in Massachusetts even though there was supposed to be a rather interesting primary for the US Senate seat currently held by Democrat John Kerry. The  preferred candidate for most of the elite Massachusetts GOP brass, Ogonowski, has apparently failed to obtain the required 10,000 signatures to get on the 2008 ballot with only a few days left. According to the Boston Globe, Mr. Ogonowski is struggling to meet with that goal.

Alicia Preston, of his campaign, stated that Team Ogo could still rely on his "home turf" towns of Dracut and Chelmsford as well as Boston... until the Secretary of State's office told the Globe that those communities had already been counted. More problems are surfacing in Chelmsford as the town clerk has reported some "issues" with forgery and signatures of people who are deceased. Meanwhile, Jeff Beatty's campaign is reporting well over the required certified signatures, getting over 17,000.

Aside from that Ogonowski problems continue to mount on the issues end. On one hand Mr. Ogonowski states that Earmarks are bad for America (see here) and that the taxpayer cannot take the pork spending. On the other hand, he is seen accepting one of these sizable earmarks for the Dracut Land Trust thanks to Democrat Senator Ted Kennedy in 2003 and accompanied by Democrat Congressman Marty Meehan.



This is what a GOP Senator does?

Do Massachusetts Republicans need to elect a guy who echos the sentiments of liberals like Jim McGovern or Bill Delahunt? Mr. Ogonowski is demanding an apology from (R) Rep. John Boehner of Ohio for insisting that the troop casualties overseas are worth the sacrifice since al Qa'eda has not been successful in striking our homeland. Ogonowski's latest campaign ad talks about the dysfunctional congress and instead of using images of Democrats like Louisiana Rep. Jefferson, Ohio Rep. Murtha, California Rep. Speaker Pelosi or even our own Senator Kerry, Ogo flashes a photo of Republican Tom DeLay. He is espousing the idea of how perfect Jim Carter and Bill Clinton would be as appointed statesman entrusted to mend the fences in the Middle East!

James Carter - Iran?

Bill Clinton - Somalia cut and run, Khartoum, Sudan pharmaceutical plant bombing? Port of Aden,Yemen USS Cole indifference?

I'm sorry but this pro-choice "Republican" does not sound like anything but a Democrat, something Massachusetts already has an abundance of in representation