They may be obscure, but gotta love the primary choices

Thus far, we've had Bob Massie and Alan Khazei in the race to replace Senator Scott Brown. Now we can officially add Newton Mayor Setti Warren to the list. All three of these candidates are known as progressives and each have diverse backgrounds and compelling stories, so the differences will have more to do with style and priorities than a checklist of where they stand on the issues. Now we just have to find out more about them, both as candidates and how they'd act as legislators.

There's another question, too. All the heavily rumored candidates are either in or, in the case of Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll, out. Since what we have in the race thus far are three candidates of little fame or fortune, does that mean someone very different will be compelled to risk entrance into the race?

Be it a Congressperson who's looking at the improving odds, or a wealthy hedge-fund type, it shouldn't shock anyone -- though it's probably just as likely that what we see is what we get, which would suit me just fine. After all, despite however little known they may all be in public, if you're a lover of good government and reality-based policy, it's hard to complain about any of these fine Democratic candidates.

MA-Sen Campaign News: Alan Khazei and Bob Massie

• To the surprise of no one, Alan Khazei jumped in the race. For those of you who remember, last time around, when I knew Martha Coakley was going to walk away with the primary, I endorsed his candidacy. 
• In a race of unknowns, Khazei may be the least unknown, but he's starting out $190,000 in the red from his last effort to take the seat -- though much of that debt comes from his own personal loans, which he doesn't exactly have to pay back. That said, $200k doesn't grow on trees, so without more money coming in, there's only so much a candidate can self-fund, at least when we're not talking about Meg Whitman here.
  
  At the end of the day, this isn't a whole lot of money for a US Senate race, but Khazei's going to have to prove he can raise the big bucks if he wants to win a wide-open primary and take on Senator Brown. 
• Another favorite candidate of mine, Bob Massie, just picked up a major national political player on his team in Joe Trippi. Trippi's claim to fame was Howard Dean's '04 campaign, but he also worked for Governor Brown's campaign in California (against previously-mentioned Meg Whitman). Ultimately, this may best serve to kick-start his campaign a little bit and show that Massie's not just in some quixotic quest -- in a race as wide open as this one looks to be, Massie's got a real shot. 

Today's LeftAhead: US Senate Race w/Candidate Bob Massie

Today on LeftAhead, we had Bob Massie on as our guest, the first announced candidate running for the Democratic Primary to face Senator Scott Brown in 2012. Massie has degrees from Princeton, Harvard and Yale and has a wide variety of experience, is a published author, and helped developed tools which enable corporations to become greener and save money at the same time.

You can listen to the podcast using the player below, or head to LeftAhead.com. You can also get the show at Blogtalkradio.com/lefties, or download and subscribe at iTunes.



Mike and I touched on a a broad range of issues, from jobs and the economy, to the environment, to health care. Massie laid out his vision for where he thinks this country needs to go to ensure it remains competitive in today's world, and so we can strengthen the middle and working class.

We also talked about the campaign itself and Bob gave us his pitch for the race. Bob is clearly in the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party, and will be tapping the grassroots across the state to build momentum. I hope everyone will listen to the show and see what they think.

Bob Massie: Channeling '06 to Win in 2012?

By now, many people who pay attention to the State Democratic Party and Massachusetts politics in general have heard that we've had our first announced challenger to Scott Brown -- Somerville's Bob Massie. Though most people probably don't know Bob very well (disclosure: I know him a little bit), he's not exactly a new hand to Massachusetts politics and is certainly fondly remembered by those who have been around since his 1994 campaign, where he beat out an insider to be nominated Lt. Governor on the Democratic ticket.

He's one of those rare few involved in politics who govern themselves by their convictions, and aren't afraid to take on the big challenges in order to help everyday people. We need more people like him in office. In many ways, he's the type of politician who's been sorely missing in this state for a long time -- but in other ways, his campaign reminds me a bit of the early days of Deval Patrick's 2006 winning effort. That's why I actually think he has a shot.

Consider this: One candidate was a political outsider with absolutely no name-recognition, but had an inspiring story and was willing to run hard based on his convictions alone. The other candidate is known only in activist circles, but has an inspiring story and is willing to run hard based on his convictions.

One of the candidates got out there ahead of the entire field, so he could build the sort of grassroots army among party activists that would enable him to defeat opponents who would start out with more money and name recognition. The other is doing the same thing.

One candidate was a political outsider who brandished an anti-establishment message, the other is a Beacon Hill outsider who's on occasion sparred with some of the establishment, at least when they forgot who they were working for.

In a race where I don't think many core members of the democratic establishment will even run -- never mind be our best shot at winning -- we need people like Bob Massie to breath a fresh breath of air into our politics. Someone else will jump into the race, someone with more money and with bigger name, but like Tom Reilly, I'm not so sure that person is going to win -- and I'm pretty confident that person won't be our best bet at beating Scott Brown.

The biggest difference between what Deval Patrick did in '06 and what Bob Massie is trying to do today is that Deval Patrick never won anything before, never mind a statewide primary. None of this is to suggest that what happened in 2006 will happen again today, but I've got hope that a candidate like Bob Massie can speak to our better angels and get a lot of people who checked out to check back in come 2012.