The Other McCain

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MA-6: Bill Hudak Has a New Slogan

Posted on | October 7, 2010 | 6 Comments

“My wife never committed tax fraud”

Kinda catchy, don’t you think? I just made that one up. Moe Lane has his own slogan for the case against Patrice Tierney, wife of a Massachusetts Democrat, but I think simpler is better when it comes to campaign slogans. Another one that might work: “My brother-in-law isn’t a federal fugitive.”

The wife of US Representative John F. Tierney pleaded guilty today in US District Court in Boston to four counts of aiding and abetting the filing of false tax returns for her brother, who is a federal fugitive indicted on illegal gambling charges. . . .
Prosecutors say Patrice Tierney managed a Massachusetts bank account for her brother, Robert Eremian, that received more than $7 million in illegal gambling profits and that she provided information to his tax preparer that mischaracterized his profits as commissions. Eremian and another brother, Daniel Eremian, were recently charged with racketeering, money laundering, operating an illegal gambling business, filing false tax returns, and other charges in connection with running an illegal gambling business in the United States from the Caribbean island of Antigua. . . .

John Tierney’s re-election slogan? “Married to the Mob.”

Tierney’s Republican challenger Bill Hudak is a lawyer and small business owner who, as Da Tech Guy says, started running for Congress before the Scott Brown victory called everybody’s attention to the potential weakness of Massachusetts Democrats. Hudak sees that voters are getting tired of the same old thing:

My opponent, John Tierney, is a direct cause of this gridlock, with a 14-year record of voting 98 percent of the time with the far left liberal wing of the Democratic Party. He is one of the most uncompromising partisans in Washington.

Let’s talk about the Massachusetts 6th District. It’s definitely blue territory, rated D+7 by the Cook Report, but remember what I told you about Charles Lollar’s situation against Steny Hoyer in Maryland? Same thing here: If you compare the Republican vote in a presidential year to the total turnout in a mid-term year, this one is winnable.

In 2004, Tierney’s Republican challenger got more than 90,000 votes. In the previous mid-term, total turnout was about 210,000. So if Republicans in the 6th District get fired up, if Democrats are disillusioned by their married-to-the-mob seven-term incumbent, and if Hudak can reach out to independent voters who are sick of runaway spending and high unemployment — hey, this guy could pull off a Scott Brown upset!

C’mon: $20 to help elect Bill Hudak.

The situation in MA-6 is the perfect example of why I say polls are not predictions. Campaigns win elections, and events influence campaigns. When a congressman’s wife pleads guilty to a federal felony charge, my friends, that is an event.

Last month, Jim Geraghty pointed out poll numbers that were already encouraging for Hudak. Tierney’s re-elect number was an anemic 38%, with 59% of voters in the 6th District saying the country was on the wrong track and Hudak led Tierney 51%-29% among those “wrong track” voters. 

Those numbers tell us what we already knew: There’s a “throw the bums out” sentiment building among the voters — even in traditional Democrat districts like this one — and Tierney could be beat. The same poll showed the MA-6 race tied among voters who had heard of Bill Hudak. So this could be a winnable seat, if Hudak can raise enough money to get his message out there.

You know you want to give Bill Hudak $20.

There’s a strong Tea Party movement in Massachusetts. The North Shore Tea Party is having their Oct. 12 meeting in Peabody, right in the heart of the 6th District. Are those patriots going to be fired up about taking on “Married to the Mob” Tierney? You betcha!

Remember what I told you last week?

The Sept. 30 third-quarter reporting date is now past, so we’re in that spooky October time when a surge of online contributions to Republican candidates will be “under the radar” of FEC reporting — the Democrats won’t know where to allocate their resources to defend against these kind of stealth challengers.

Donations to congressional candidates of less than $1,000 won’t be reported until after the election. We get thousands of visitors every day on this blog, and if just 200 of you were to give $50 to Bill Hudak today, that would be $10,000. Let’s make it happen, people.

BILL HUDAK for U.S. CONGRESS
Because His Wife Isn’t a Convicted Felon

UPDATE: We’ve got a Memeorandum thread, folks, with Sissy Willis pointing out that this year may mark the end of one-party rule in Massachusetts, while Bob Belvedere says, “Who dat?”

Real Clear Politics says, “Maybe Scott Brown wasn’t an outlier,” and my American Spectator buddy — and Massachusetts native — Jim Antle analyzes evidence of an approaching “Red Wave” in the Bay State.

Category: Congress, Crime, Election, Massachusetts

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