Picking Up Political Pieces

Dissuaded and defeated candidate's trail clearing holds a small fascination for me. I still await Jim King For Senate's version.

I would like to think that our interview with him on Left Ahead the day before he announced withdrawal from the US Senate contest was not a major factor. Then, he didn't hang up on us or express obvious disdain. You can judge for yourself in the episode.

A week later, his online self appears to be still in.

His campaign site still leads the standard smiling attorney pic with a backdrop of law books and stacked, mirrored hands, with the opening words, "I’m running for Senate because I believe passionately in Massachusetts’ extraordinary tradition of leadership and innovation." There is no press-release section. The two links to articles about him are long before he dropped out and certainly do not include the announcement, first printed by the (Springfield) Republican on its MassLive site.

Likewise, his Facebook page, listing him with the Politician epithet, leads with a March 1st post about his seeking the Senate seat. His Info section never fully converted to his candidacy, stressing instead his impressive legal biography.

Following the show, early morning the day he eventually announced he was quitting and endorsing Elizabeth Warren, I sent him two emails I thought would please him. First, BlueMassGroup front paged the post on the show, with the audio player. Then a little later MASSterList linked to that. Each should have brought numerous listens. Frankly, with so many people saying and writing for so long that he had no chance, I was pleased a few machers shared my interest in his platform and strategy. He has yet to respond to my thanks for having him on the show or either informative email.

For King, the day before he stepped back, he told us he was not intimidated. About two minutes in he said, "Most importantly, money is not the issue. It certainly creates hurdles, but it's not the ultimate issue. The ultimate issue is Scott Brown." He told us he was aiming for the June party convention.

Sure, it's no surprise when a pol says something and does the opposite shortly afterward. Cynics are wont to say they're all liars and dishonorable.

I don't think that of him. I would love to know what happened after 3 PM on Tuesday to flip him. Some pundits has surmised that he got a call from a DNC big shot, convincing him that avoiding a September primary would be the thing to do to put this Senate seat back in the D column. Surely that wouldn't be a Godfather-style offer-he-couldn't-refuse, rather an appeal to this political loyalty and lawyerly pragmatism.

King is 63, a court vet, confident in his rhetoric, and extraordinarily well educated. He is not the sort to sit weeping in boudoir over his aborted drive to public office.

Can he not be bothered to inform his supporters on FB and his site of the decision? Is it simply vanity that keeps him from admitting failure?

Lest you think that he hopes that leaving the site with its red-and-white DONATE HERE $ button will bring him more cash to cover any outstanding expenditures, know that the underlying ACT BLUE link is gone.

Regardless, you'd suppose he'd clean up after himself, picking up the political rubble.

The subhead on his campaign site,"HOPE ENDURES, THE DREAM WILL NEVER DIE", related to Ted Kennedy. Others' dreams do in fact die.