Thursday roundup: Tsongas tried to keep Schilling's company in Mass.?

Wednesday was slow with a capital "S", so in keeping with the media's tradition of headlining a Red Sox story when nothing else is going on, we start with former Red Sox hero and current businessman/blowhard Curt Schilling. In a discussion with WEEI Radio about Rhode Island's decision to offer Schilling's video game company 38 Studios a $75 million guarantee to move the business to the Ocean State, Schilling mentioned that he'd only received help from one Massachusetts politician:

Although Schilling “absolutely” wished Massachusetts had offered incentives to keep 38 Studios in the Bay State, only U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass., made a significant effort to explore the possibility, he said.

“We made every effort to make that happen, and it was not going to happen,” he said. Officials in Massachusetts have said the state would never provide as large a guarantee as $75 million to a single company.

I'm not sure what pull Tsongas (D-Lowell) would have since the state would have made the decision, but Schilling's company is located in Maynard for the time being and Maynard is in her Fifth Congressional district, so perhaps she just saw it as good constituent relations.

In a completely unrelated item, challenger Jon Golnik (R-Carlisle) got the Lowell Sun to publish a story about his call for Tsongas to call for House Ways and Means Committee chairman Charlie Rangel to step down:

"Instead of supporting partisan friendships, Nancy Pelosi, Niki Tsongas and the rest of our elected officials in Washington need to stand up for what is right and demand for their colleague's resignation. People are cynical because once again, members of Congress are above the law," Golnik said in a statement....

"If his colleagues feel he is too unethical too keep his money, then he is too unethical to spend ours," Golnik said.

Tsongas probably has less pull with Rangel than she does with some state development authority, but at least Golnik got an article out of it.

Sam Meas (R-Haverhill) came out against the expiration of last decade's deficit-building tax cuts.

Elsewhere....

Middlesex and Worcester Senate District
Rep. Jamie Eldridge told the Lowell Sun that Schilling never asked him for any help. Maynard is part of the Middlesex and Worcester District.

Third Congressional District
Not only has Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) been all over the news as a leader of the anti-war effort, he has also drafted a letter (along with Democratic Rep. Jan Schankowsky of Illinois) urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to call for investigations of war crimes in Sri Lanka.

Just a reminder...the Schilling for Senate idea was mine first

Now that there is an open Senate seat up for grabs, speculation has heated up that Curt Schilling will be a candidate for the Republican nomination. As the speculation swirls, I just want to remind people that I was the first to propose the idea, back in November on 2006:

The state's Republican party is in such shambles it would be fair to ask: Can they find a viable candidate to run for Senate in two years?

I can only think of one really good option for them: Curt Schilling.

About six weeks after that, the media picked up on the possibility of a Schilling candidacy. I wrote then about some correspondence I had with a TV station wanting to interview me for a Schilling for Senate story:

So, three-and-a-half months after I started the whole Curt Schilling for Senate thing by explaining exactly why Schilling would make a great candidate, the story finally has some legs. Sure, it took a talk-show caller to get the ball rolling. But I didn't really expect a whole lot to come of it in the first place.

I kind of thought it was going to take off back in November when I first wrote the article here and cross-posted it at Blue Mass Group. Universal Hub linked to the post and the Hub Blog pooh poohed the idea, but after a couple of days of traffic, things settled down.

But not completely. Out of the blue about a month later, I received an email from the political editor at an in-state TV news organization, wanting to do an on-air piece about my post...

So here we are again, with Schilling openly discussing the possibility. I don't think I would ever vote for him, but if he runs don't forget where you heard it first.

* * * * *

Here is my original rationale for a Schilling candidacy, as I wrote it on November 9, 2006:

Over the next week or so I'm going start looking ahead at the next big election, and I figured I'd start at the bottom. The state's Republican party is in such shambles it would be fair to ask: Can they find a viable candidate to run for Senate in two years?

I can only think of one really good option for them: Curt Schilling. What do we know about Schilling that would make him a viable candidate?

1. He is a Republican. After helping the Red Sox win the World Series in 2004, he spent the week between the end of the Series and election day campaigning for President Bush in TV appearances and on the stump. Would his support of the president be a liability? Probably not...there were still a lot of people who supported the president in 2004.


2. He will be available. His contract with the Red Sox ends at the end of the 2007 season. That would give him five months or so until the primary (it's early in 2008 because of the presidential race), and a little over a year to the general election. He wouldn't have to worry about the primary at all--the minute he announced his candidacy the decks would be clear--and he'd be left with plenty of time to run a general election campaign. In fact, he could get a head start since the Democratic primary could be hotly contested.


3. He brings instant name recognition and popularity. Everyone in Massachusetts knows who Curt Schilling is, and they probably have a generally positive view of him. The old joke is that a member of the 2004 Red Sox will never have to buy a drink in Massachusetts. That level of built in support would go a long way. Instead of volunteers running around in orange jumpsuits, he'll have his supporters wearing "bloody socks." In a strange way, that would be endearing.


4. He will have no problem raising money. See number 3. Not only does he have quite a bit of his own money if he needed to tap into it, but he would be able to raise lots of money in both Massachusetts and across the country based on his star power alone. And don't think that national Republicans will forget his support of Bush. He'd instantly have as much money to run as he needs.


5. He can campaign as a true outsider. Because he won't have a voting record on issues, he will be able to define himself. If I had to guess, I'd imagine him as a strong-defense, low-tax, social libertarian...the only type of Republican that could be successful in Massachusetts. But even if he's not, he'll have the ability to let voters know who he is, and not have to worry about having a trail of votes that can be twisted and used against him.


6. He can campaign as a local businessman. Just last week, the Boston Business Journal reported that Schilling had rented space in Maynard to house his start-up video game business. Schilling will be able to say that he has "created jobs in Massachusetts," that he "understands the needs of small business," etc. etc.


7. He has a TV presence. Not every athlete is comfortable with the cameras, but Schilling certainly is. In fact, some of us who follow the Red Sox think he's too much of a publicity hog: always on TV, calls WEEI to vent about this or that issue, frequents internet message boards (I'm one of those who wishes he'd just shut up and pitch). In any event, he is a skilled commentator and would be a media darling.


8. There is no one else. Quick, name a Massachusetts Republican. Mitt Romney's running for president, so he's out. Kerry Healey? Her only chance would be if Deval Patrick failed miserably right out of the gate and people began wondering if she weren't so bad after all. Paul Cellucci might be a possibility I suppose, but his ties to President Bush are so strong that he might have difficulty here, not to mention that he saddled us with two years of Jane Swift (uh, no). Wayne Budd was Deval Patrick before Deval Patrick. Former Suffolk County DA Ralph Martin, perhaps? Do any of those names inspire you?

All of this speculation is based on one huge assumption: John Kerry will run for President and the seat will be an open seat. If Kerry stays on, I'd guess that he will not face any real opposition. But if he goes, there will be a huge fight for the first senate opening in 24 years. I wouldn't be surprised if Curt Schilling is part of the mix.

A bad body

From Jim Rice's new blog:

Last year people said Curt Schilling was fat...he’s not fat, he just has a bad body.

I've been saying that about myself for years!

Tags: Fat Jim Rice Curt Schilling

Not fit for office

John McCain: "We need to have Curt Schilling as president of the President's Council on Fitness."

Does this guy look like the poster boy for fitness?



Tags: 2008 New Hampshire Primary Election John McCain Curt Schilling Republican

Blame me for the Schilling stories

BREAKING NEWS...MUST CREDIT NO DRUMLINS!
CURT SCHILLING MAY RUN FOR SENATE

So, three-and-a-half months after I started the whole Curt Schilling for Senate thing by explaining exactly why Schilling would make a great candidate, the story finally has some legs. Sure, it took a talk-show caller to get the ball rolling. But I didn't really expect a whole lot to come of it in the first place.

I kind of thought it was going to take off back in November when I first wrote the article here and cross-posted it at Blue Mass Group. Universal Hub linked to the post and the Hub Blog pooh poohed the idea, but after a couple of days of traffic, things settled down.

But not completely. Out of the blue about a month later, I received an email from the political editor at an in-state TV news organization, wanting to do an on-air piece about my post:

From: TV Personality [mailto:TV Personality@WXXX-TV]
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 2:34 PM
To: nodrumlins@comcast.net
Subject: schilling gop

I saw your posting about Schilling saving the GOP and wondered if you got any feedback. I'm the political editor at XXXXXX and might do something funny about it. Let me know. Write back or call at XXX-XXX-XXXX.

I was a little wary, I got the impression that he thought the post was a joke. Or at least he thought the idea was a joke. After replying, I received another email which confirmed my suspicions:

From: TV Personality [mailto:TV Personality@WXXX-TV]
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 3:59 PM
To: nodrumlins
Subject: RE: schilling gop

did you post it just as a joke or do you think schilling might actually be interested someday? Would like to talk to you on phone about it. you can call me if you want at XXX-XXX-XXXX

I tried to convince the editor that there was a real story here:

From: nodrumlins [mailto:nodrumlins@comcast.net]
Sent: Tue 12/5/2006 4:59 PM
To: TV Personality
Subject: RE: schilling gop

No, I was serious. I don’t know if he’d be interested or not, but with all the stories after the election about how the Republican party had essentially lost viability in the state, I was trying to think of a Republican who might be able to compete in a state-wide election. I’d bet if you polled voters today about their preferences, Schilling would lead any other Republicans in a potential primary match-up, and would lead at least a couple of potential Dems in a general election.

For instance, I listed Kerry Healey, Paul Cellucci, Wayne Budd, and Ralph Martin as other potential Republicans, and the more savvy readers at Blue Mass Group mentioned Charlie Baker. If you were to poll those six names among likely Republican primary voters, I’ll bet Schilling would have a double-digit lead.

Among potential Dems, if you match him Schilling up against Jim McGovern, Marty Meehan, Ed Markey, or Stephen Lynch, I’ll bet he’d be even or ahead. He would probably trail Barney Frank or John Kerry, but Kerry’s negatives are so high even that might be close.

In the end, I don’t know that he would win, but I imagine he could energize the campaign and turn Mass. into a top-tier Senate race for ’08.

Essentially, I gave this editor the story six weeks before WRKO found it. I declined to go on camera--both because I wished to remain somewhat anonymous and because I feared he would be making fun of me more than taking me seriously--and apparently that was reason enough not to run with the story.

And now, the story has taken off on its own. WRKO started a petition drive to draft Schilling. Channel 7 included it in their 6 o'clock news. The Herald fronted the story in this morning's paper, and made more news when Schilling wouldn't rule it out:

“I couldn’t rule it out because it’s not something I ever thought about in a serious capacity,” Schilling told the Herald.

“I envision that I will probably be pretty busy in 2008,” he said. “But I’m flattered as hell to even make this phone call.”

And I'm flattered as hell that someone is running with the story.

Tags: Massachusetts Election 2008 Senate John Kerry Curt Schilling Republican