I settled in to watch the second to last (I think) debate of the MA-05 special election between the five candidates vying to replace Rep. Marty Meehan (D) who left earlier this year. Candidates Niki Tsongas (D), Jim Ogonowski (R), Kurt Hayes (I), Patrick Murphy (I), and Kevin Thompson (Constitution Party) gathered on an NECN platform for a televised debate.
When all of a sudden during commercial, my husband (reading his laptop) told me to listen up - David and Charley of Blue Mass Group, the largest Democratic blog in Massachusetts, had been tossed from the debate, and had to watch from a conference room elsewhere for their live blog (which is worth reading by the way, here, and here). Turns out, it was at the Ogonowski campaign's request:
Charley and I are at the NECN studios to cover the MA-05 debate, which starts in a few minutes. We were sitting in the TV studio with the candidates and a couple of reporters getting ourselves set to watch and blog the debate.
Until a second ago. We were just unceremoniously hustled out of the studio because "our organization" had "endorsed Tsongas." So now we're in a conference room watching the large-screen TV.
I asked whether, if the Globe had endorsed Tsongas, they would be permitted to sit in the studio. No answer.
I think, but am not certain, that we were evicted at the request of the Ogonowski campaign. I'll try to get clarification on that.
UPDATE: Confirmed. The Ogonowski campaign asked that we be moved.
Now, this was also the big-hearted guy who hates illegal immigrants so much, he seemed to indicate he'd vote to keep Bush's veto on SCHIP because he thinks it gives away money to undocumented workers' kids. Then backed away...by not answering whether or not he'd vote to override, but by keep up the talk about illegal immigrants. When David has repeatedly said that's not true, based on the statute, which he quotes at length.
Then, there's his stance on the Iraq war...he was originally against it, but says we have to stay now until "victory." Sounds like he's pretty aligned with Bush on that one. Niki Tsongas has repeatedly asked him to define "victory" but he cannot.
So no wonder he's scared of David and Charley and bloggers. They keep calling him on his bullshit. So he gets them thrown out of debates - bad move. I know...it's one debate, that they could still watch from another room, but this shows the character of Jim Ogonowski, who is very much a Bush Republican no matter how hard he tries to run from him. Ogonowski is the sort of top-down Republican authoritarian that we do not need in Congress, and please...do not let him become our Rep here in MA-05.
There's one more debate, and the election's on Oct 16. If you're local, volunteer for Niki Tsongas. If you aren't, or are and can't spend time, donate to Niki.
This is still a tight race in one of the most conservative parts of Massachusetts, so every vote will count, and every dollar will too.