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MA-10: Bill Delahunt Will Retire

by: DavidNYC

Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 9:43 PM EST


Given what's transpired in recent weeks, this news is not terribly surprising:

Representative William Delahunt will not seek re-election to Congress, the seven-term Democrat will announce tomorrow, ending a nearly 40-year career in elected office and giving Republicans hope of capturing the seat, which stretches from Cape Cod to the South Shore.

"It's got nothing to do with politics," the Quincy Democrat said today. "Life is about change. I think it's healthy. It's time."

The 68-year-old lawmaker said he has been considering leaving the House for several years, but was talked out of it two years ago by the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who convinced his friend he should stay and help President Obama with his first-term agenda.

The tenth is MA's least-Democratic CD, going for Obama by just a 55-44 margin. (Kerry and Gore both posted similar numbers here.) Meanwhile, SSP numbers guru jeffmd estimates that Scott Brown absolutely dominated here, winning by about 60-40. So you can see why the GOP thinks it has a shot here. State Rep. Jeffrey Perry is already in the race, and former state Treasurer Joe Malone and state Sen. Robert Hedlund are weighing runs. Undoubtedly plenty of Dems will also give this contest some thought, and I'm sure we'll here more from the interested parties soon.

(Hat-tip: Political Wire)
DavidNYC :: MA-10: Bill Delahunt Will Retire
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MA-10: Bill Delahunt Will Retire | 43 comments
How about making a "change" at a better time for your party
I'm sorry but I am not going to take someone seriously who says it's not about politics when it's the worst political environment for them in a decade. The Democrats choosing to retire this year without serious health concerns are selfish and don't want to lose, to say otherwise is disingenuous.  
He didn't fundraise in 2009.
Anyone could have seen this coming.

As I've tweeted, I do live part-time in this district, and am amenable to a draft.  

[ Parent ]
Thanks
for working hard for the team Congressman. Gosh if these geezers think they actually have to work to keep there seat they run away like cowards. Seriously I hate seeing all of these wimps!  

Proud member of the Indiana Democratic Party from IN-9.  
MA
Disgusting.

MA Democrats are a pathetic lot.

29/D/Male/NY-01

They are not
I couldn't agree with statement in any sort of fashion.  The Democrats have done a great job of maintaining control of this state for many years.  Until Scott Brown's victory, we controlled the Governor's mansion, both US senate seats, and all 10 seats in the house.  John Kerry is a great senator.  Deval Patrick is a decent governor.  All 10 house reps have done their jobs well in their respective tenure.  

What is so disgusting about a 68 year old man wanting to retire?  He's a public servant, not an endentured servant that must work until he's incapacitated.

Delahunt is a human who should control his own fate rather than be our slave.  I appreciate his hard work, and I only hope everyone else can appreciate it too.

40, male, Democrat, NC-04

[ Parent ]
Delahunt
Delahunt did a lot of good things for House Dems.  He was actually a part of the Tim Ryan/Kendrick Meek/Wasserman Schultz quartet.  I thank the gentleman for his service, he could have retired soon.  I am sure he could have retired sooner so maybe it was a tough race that frightened him.  

Please donate to amcharities.org to help build more after school centers in the Miami area.  

23, Democrat, IA-2

"Scott Brown" realignment?
I'm not convinced that GOPers could pull the same trick twice in this district. First reason being that the nominee will be a local figure, not an outsider like Coakley. It's also MA which still counts for at least something. The bench is strong and the infrastructure is there to help the right candidate win.
Also
In the Democratic Party, we follow the normal version of the proverb: "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me."

Rather than some crap about not fooling someone else again or something, that is.

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01

[ Parent ]
I hated Coakley more than anyone...
...back before her implosion.  But before we lay it ALL on her you do need to look at a Democratic Party divided into corrupt little fiefdoms that has failed to do much to inspire the state.

For the last 45 years if you remove the three terms of Michael Dukakis this is what you have for Governor.

1964-1969.  Republican John Volpe.
1969-1974. Republican Francis Sargent.

1978-1982. Democratic Ed King.  More conservative than probably any Republican who has held office in modern times. Endorse Ronald Reagan who frequently lavished praise on him.  Formally left the Democratic Party a few years after being defeated for re-election.

1990-1997. Republican William Weld.
1997-2001. Republican Paul Cellucci.
2001-2002. Republican Jane Swift.
2002-2006. Republican Mitt Romney.

I'd be shocked if every one of the Republicans listed DIDN'T win that district.  To a certain extent I think people underestimated Gerry Studds and the way he kept that district nailed down.

NY-13, Democrat. Blog @ http://infinitefunction.wordpr...

[ Parent ]
more like 'post-Ted Kennedy realignment'

The higher level establishment in the state Party is crumbling without him.  It's time for a new generation.

Same story on Capitol Hill and the national Party establishment.

[ Parent ]
The man is 68...
...if he wants to retire thank him for his service and move on. This pissing and moaning every time some elected official makes a career decision that "is not in the best interest of the Party" gets real old.  

"Where free Unions and collective bargaining is forbidden, freedom is lost." - Ronald Reagan
MA
These cowards running away at the slightest hint of a tough race get no thanks from me.

29/D/Male/NY-01
[ Parent ]
Maybe he was thinking ahead to redistricting
And the possibility that he would have to face Stephen Lynch in 2012 if the legislature eliminated MA-09 in its current form, although I guess that's pretty unlikely. Well, if we lose this seat in 2010 that'll sure change redistricting quite a bit.
[ Parent ]
huh?
how would he have to face Lynch in redistricting? first of all the population loss is coming from the west, second of all it's hard enough to get the district up to Quincy as is let alone into Boston. if someone they drew a spaghetti strip into Boston to get Lynch's house then the district would still be overwhelmingly made up of Delahunt's constituents.

21, dude, RI-01 (registered) IL-01 (college)
please help Japan. click "donate funds" in upper right and then "Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami." http://www.redcross.org/
[ Parent ]
Don't put anything past the Massachusetts Lege
We invented Gerrymandering, remember?

Also, Delahunt lives in Quincy, so putting his house in Lynch's district would be trivial.  

I agree though that if all candidates win reelection most likely the seat loss would be out in Western Mass, combining the 1st and 2nd.  If we keep the current two Western districts, the 1st, which already stretches to the Nashoba Valley, would have to cut even deeper into Greater Boston to the point where, according to my calculations, 40% of its population would live East of Fitchburg.

28, Unenrolled, MA-08

[ Parent ]
True
but the Cape needs to go somewhere, and if Quincy was added to MA-09, at least Delahunt would be able to move.

To be honest, since Olver is getting up there in years, there must be a good chance he'll retire for 2012. Even if a Republican wins MA-10 that doesn't necessitate eliminating the district, just detach it from Quincy and give it New Bedford/Fall River.

21, dude, RI-01 (registered) IL-01 (college)
please help Japan. click "donate funds" in upper right and then "Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami." http://www.redcross.org/

[ Parent ]
That's beyond insane reasoning
Delahunt could win reelection with no problems at all.  He's not a coward.  A coward is someone who runs away from their problems, not a 68 year old man who wants to do something different with his life, such as retiring.

40, male, Democrat, NC-04
[ Parent ]
The
main reason we lost control of Congress in 1994 was retirements. We aren't close to 1994 levels of retirement yet, but we really need to limit open seats. Please note I don't think we this is 1994! 68 is actually not terribly old for a Congressman, we elect freshman older than him all of the time. I can respect him for wanting a change of scenery, but it would be nice if he could take one for the team. Yes it's in the best interest of the party, Delahunt is a democrat and at the end of the day should do things that are in the best interest of the party. Sorry if I sound pissy but we shouldn't just let everyone start jumping ship.  

Proud member of the Indiana Democratic Party from IN-9.  
[ Parent ]
Correction
Please note I don't think this is 1994! Not, Please note I don't think we this is 1994! I really should proof read my post's.  

Proud member of the Indiana Democratic Party from IN-9.  
[ Parent ]
+1 GOP
n/t
Heh, we'll see about that!
Not to mention that, should you be correct, Massachusetts is still home turf of Elbridge Gerry.

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01
[ Parent ]
Keep dancing
In the end zone, party of no.  Set those expectations high.  If we get trounced, at least we'll have the satisfaction of knowing you're disappointed.

34, WM, Democrat, FL-11
[ Parent ]
Maybe a fresh face would be better.
Delahunt's taken some hits with it coming to light his office let the crazy Alabama U professor go when she shot her brother back in the 80s.
This actually might be a good thing
  Delahunt lately has been getting pounded lately because of his role in the Amy Bishop case and the use of his campaign funds. It might be better to have a fresh face on the ballot. I know the district is one of the more GOP leaning districts and Scott Brown won by a large margin, but I still think you have to give who ever the Democratic contender is a slight edge.  
I think I agree with this
I was going to ask what was different now, given that Senator Kennedy convinced him to stay on to help President Obama with his first term, but I think we have to have some respect for this kind of thinking:

"I've got a granddaughter," the divorced father of two said. "Given the pace down here, I don't want to miss out on her childhood, her first year."

These folks may be politicians, but they do have personal lives, too.

Congressman Delahunt, thank you very much for your 40 years of service. It's time for a new man or woman to take on your responsibility for that district.

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  

[ Parent ]
We have a really, really strong bench in this one.
Don't leave MA-10 for dead quite yet.

MA Democrats have a very strong candidate in State Senator Rob O'Leary, D-Cape & Islands District.

O'Leary has already announced that he is running if Delahunt doesn't

http://news.bostonherald.com/n...

Rob O'Leary is going to be a force. His State Sen District overlaps 100% with MA-10, covering about 1/4 of it. What's more, it's the most conservative 1/4; Barnstable county (Cape Cod) plus Dukes county (Martha's Vineyard) and Nantucket.

In fact, O'Leary is the first Democrat to represent Cape Cod in the MA State Senate since the Civil War.

This will be a race, no doubt about it, but we have a very real shot of holding this one.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

- MLK Jr, Letter from Birmingham Jail

O'Leary sounds pretty damn good.
Dukes is actually quite liberal compared to the rest of the 10th though.
[ Parent ]
ya he's impressive.
When I interned at the MA State house back in 2004, O'Leary's office was the one next my Senator's. The guy is personable, and smart as a whip (I think he used to be a college professor at Mass Maritime Academy? I know he has a PhD in History...). He's also great on the issues.

O'Leary's team is setting up a new website, probably for the congressional campaign. It's here: http://www.robertoleary.com/

You can find more info about him at his current sites,

here: http://www.mass.gov/legis/memb...

and

here:http://www.senatoroleary.com/

And good catch, you're right about Dukes and Nantucket. Super-Democratic, big margins for Coaks. Ditto with the very end of the cape, with P-town, Truro and Wellfleet safely in the D column. Rest of Barnstable county not so much.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

- MLK Jr, Letter from Birmingham Jail

[ Parent ]
Kennedy
Robert O'Leary, eh? Are we sure this guy isn't a Kennedy (not that there's anything wrong with that)?

Because like this Wonkette commenter, I kinda want to ask if his mom was a cocktail waitress in Hyannis in the 1950s.   /joke

link: http://wonkette.com/410711/mas...

Kansan by birth, Californian by choice, and Gay by the grace of God.

[ Parent ]
o.m.g.

[ Parent ]
And:
Don't forget Eastham. I spend a lot of time in Eastham when I am on the Cape during summers and I can tell you that it is a very liberal town.

Of all the towns and cities in Massachusetts, I would have to say P-Town and Amherst are the top two when it comes to left-leaning politics, Amherst being so left as it is because of the college students and academics.

[ Parent ]
While I agree he'll be a strong candiate
That is not the most conservative part of the 10th.  The outer cape and the islands are quite liberal.  The mid cape, which he represents part of, is more conservative, though still not as conservative as some towns on the South Shore.

28, Unenrolled, MA-08
[ Parent ]
I wonder how this affects redistricting
Even if we retain this seat. I think the conventional wisdom had the legislature putting Olver and Neal into one district (no growth in the Western parts of the state at all), but with a freshman congressman representing the 10th I wonder if an Olver/Neal battle will be avoided.
it depends where the new congressman lives
but I honestly doubt it will affect anything, no other congressmen live in SE Mass so there's no way that this new congressman will have his district combined with someone else's.

21, dude, RI-01 (registered) IL-01 (college)
please help Japan. click "donate funds" in upper right and then "Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami." http://www.redcross.org/
[ Parent ]
Eliminating the 10th would be rather difficult
No one else lives even remotely close to it.  The other two congressmen who represents parts of Southeast Mass are Lynch and Frank who live in South Boston and Newton respectively.  While the legislature would probably make some sort of spaghetti district in order to eliminate a Republican, I'd doubt they'd do that just to sic a Freshman Dem.  Furthermore, our likely representative, O'Leary, has been at Beacon Hill for ten years now, so his connections with the redistricting committee will probably be pretty good.  Better than some of the other congresscritters, come to think of it.

28, Unenrolled, MA-08
[ Parent ]
3 Possible Scenarios
Beacon Hill will have a tough call. They'd be loath to force any of Olver, Neal, Frank, Markey, or McGovern into retirement due to their seniority and/or committee assignments. (McGovern is the most junior of that list, but he's on the Rules Committee.) They can't really eliminate Capuano's district since it's minority-majority.
Nikki Tsongas has the least seniority but is the only woman in the delegation and eliminating the current MA-05 would leave a big hole for others to plug.  

1. Olver (he's an awesome progressive, but he's no spring chicken) retires. (Or has to square off with Neal, but I doubt they'd do that.) Interestingly enough, western MA is still too a little populous for just one district, so somebody (probably McGovern) would get new turf west of the Quabbin.  

2. Capuano could run for the Senate in 2012. I'd like this scenario because we could stick Lynch with most of the current 8th (yes, you can draw a VRA-compliant district that includes Southie) and either primary him or force him to be a better Dem in a hurry.

3. Tierney moves on and MA-06 gets split between Tsongas and Markey and maybe Lynch. You'd have to careful redrawing MA-05 in this case since the strong Dem Metrowest towns in MA-05 are what keep it from being a true swing district.  

4. A Republican wins the 10th and the result is probably a spaghetti strand MA-09 from Southie to P'Town in which Lynch is probably favored to beat whichever GOPer gets in there.

 

36, M, Democrat, MD-03

[ Parent ]
MA-10 is probaby Lean Dem at this point.
Yes, this is Obama's worst district in MA (although he still won it comfortably) and Brown dominated in the special election, but one: Democrats are not going to take MA for granted again (at least in this election cycle) and two: while the GOP actually has a decent bench in this district the Dem bench is even stronger. I know nothing of this O'Leahy guy (primarily because I don't live in MA!) but if he is running then he would have a good edge against any Republican running. This is still a D+5 district so the Republicans would both need an exceptionally strong candidate and for the Dems to have a an less than ideal one. To be frank I'm not really worried about this one, we have several other open seats that are going to be very difficult.
Here's a map eliminating the 10th
I drew this up quickly in Dave's app, just to show that it could be done.  (Not to say that it should be done.)

Cyan is Lynch's 9th. Red is Frank's 4th. Purple is McGovern's 3rd. (rather all of those are "the people's districts" but you know what I mean)



28, Unenrolled, MA-08

Cute.
Is that sort of water contiguity legal?

I know splitting the Cape like that wouldn't go over very well. The touch-point or near-touch-point contiguity of the 3rd also looks bad, though the district looks bad as it is.

It's a sign of your skillz that I know the state well and can't figure out which of those two districts you're more worried about losing. You drew the 9th to grab Brockton and Randolph, but the Dem-friendly Outer Cape is in your 4th.  

36, M, Democrat, MD-03

[ Parent ]
Thanks
I made the map quickly, so I didn't make too many careful calculations.  I somewhat arbitrarily assigned Liberal and Conservative areas to Lynch and Frank, with some thought on which would be a better a fit and maximizing the overlap with their current districts.  Hence the outer cape seemed to go with Frank and Brockton with Lynch, especially since he represents it currently.

The squeeze of the third does not come down to a point and is no worse than the current 4th.  On the other hand it could be avoid by shifting the boundaries with the second a bit.  I have no idea whether Massachusetts law allows my water continuity maneuver.  I suspect though that Massachusetts law says something along the lines of "the Democrats can draw the districts anyway they damn well please."

28, Unenrolled, MA-08

[ Parent ]
I really need to post my Massachusetts Republican gerrymander
The southern part of the red district is combined in my map with central Boston and Gloucester.
[ Parent ]
do you mean the cape?
a district combining Cape Cod and Cape Ann would be a masterpiece of modern art!

21, dude, RI-01 (registered) IL-01 (college)
please help Japan. click "donate funds" in upper right and then "Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami." http://www.redcross.org/
[ Parent ]
Ha
This map would have Barney Frank representing Provincetown, which is kinda funny.

And while this map seems to be a wee bit impractical (water contiguity and such), it does show that there are lot of creative things that can be done drawing the lines in Mass. to maintain dominance over the delegation.

Zombie Elbridge Gerry is proud.  

Kansan by birth, Californian by choice, and Gay by the grace of God.

[ Parent ]
MA-10: Bill Delahunt Will Retire | 43 comments

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