I've been beseeched

A Kerry supporter reached out to me yesterday in an effort to dissuade me from voting for Ed O'Reilly at tomorrow's convention. While Kerry supporters have been calling me once a week or so to get my vote, this time the outreach was a little more forceful. This supporter came across my earlier post and emailed me a passionate response, "beseeching" me to vote for the Senator. One of the implied reasons: A vote for O'Reilly hurts Barack Obama and Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire.

....we can either begin the coordinated campaign in June, and start the hard work of winning these seats immediately, or after the Primary in September, leaving Mass residents to organize themselves for trips northward and paying for their own gas.

I beseech you, if you are planning on voting for us in the Primary and General, please support us at the convention. We have far too much work to do this Summer defeating McCain and the Republicans.

Maybe I'm a little naive about the threat O'Reilly poses, but it doesn't seem to me that the Kerry people are going to have to spend that much time and effort in Massachusetts for him to win the primary. And while I don't have much experience coordinating campaigns, I'd expect that Obama at least will have plenty of volunteers available to be organized and sent to New Hampshire if necessary.

I appreciate the hard work of the Kerry supporters in trying to clear the ballot for the September primary, but my position is based solely in my opposition to the 15% rule and my belief that contested elections and a debate of the issues is a good thing for the people of Massachusetts.

Tags: Massachusetts Election 2008 John Kerry Ed O'Reilly Democratic Senate