Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Special Elections Today

Today features at least three special elections, one general and two primaries. Two of these races are to replace members of the state House of Representatives. In the 14th Worcester district (parts of Worcester and all of West Boylston), Democrat Jim O'Day faces off against unenrolled candidate (and former Democrat) Joseph Cariglia. In the 11th Norfolk district (Dedham and Westwood), both parties have contested primaries. For the Republicans, Doug Obey faces off against Bill McKinney. On the Democratic side, there's a four-way contest between candidates Thomas Boncek, Steve Bilafer, Joanne Flatley, and Cheryl Schoenfeld. The winners of those primaries will face Paul McMurty in the May 15th general election.

Also today is the Boston City Council Preliminary Election to fill the seat of the late Jimmy Kelly. A field of seven candidates will be narrowed down to the top two vote-getters who will square off on May 15th. Sunday's Boston Globe had a nice comparison of all seven candidates.

In other special election news, keep your eye on Fall River where state Rep Robert Correia (D-Fall River) has kicked off his campaign for mayor. He has said that if he wins that post, he'll resign his house seat.

Update:
And the winners are:
14th Worcester -- Jim O'Day (D) (results)
11th Norfolk -- Doug Obey (R) and Steve Bilafer (D) (results)
Boston District 2 -- Susan Passoni and Brian Linehan (results)

Question of the night: Why can I get election results on the website of the tiny town of West Boylston, but not on the city of Worcester's site? I expect better from the second largest city in the Commonwealth.