Good Morning!

Ah, an early start for a change for your post-surgical TriSec. No platelets today...unfortunately, I don't know when I may donate again, indeed if I'll still be able to.

I'll be off in a few minutes to a local campaign event for the Massachusetts 3rd Middlesex Senate seat. Our longtime senator, Susan Fargo, has chosen not to run for re-election this year. There's a field of 5 Democrats lining up to replace her, but curiously not a single Republican. I do find this a bit unusual, actually, since in quite recent history we've had a Republican representative in the General Court, but I digress.

A few weeks ago, I went to a primary debate here in this city. I won't bore you with the details, but I do have some impressions about the field. There's five candidates running, and in my humble opinion, here's how they line up:

Mike Barrett - a 17 year legislative veteran that has been out of office, and is trying to get back in. (Nope, you had your turn.)

Mara Dolan - a women's issue and healthcare advocate and lawyer. (I'm sorry, I don't think we need another practicing lawyer in the state house.)

Joe Mullin - a retired developer from Weston. (a 1 percenter looking for something to do in his retirement. Next!)

Alex Buck - a Town Meeting member from Chelmsford looking to take the next step. ( I know him slightly - but despite his earnestness, clearly not ready for prime time yet. He will bear watching, though.)

Which leaves me with the candidate I've decided to support, Joe Kearns Godwin. You might recognize the name....Doris is his mother.

Joe seems to have his head on straight....he's a veteran, did two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, was a union guy at GE (location unknown), a new graduate of Harvard Law School (thankfully deciding on public service instead of private practice), and is very closely tied to the local community in his hometown of Concord. Like I said, there's a lot of local issues that are meaningless to the rest of you, but on a couple that are important to me, he seemed to have the best thought out and most commonsense answers and ideas.

So anyway....it's off to a "Cup of Joe with Joe" this morning in Waltham Center. I have talked to the candidate and his campaign director already, and I was just about to get involved when my colon decided to attack. I still have a couple of weeks before I get back to my day job...local headquarters is just a half-mile away here on Main Street, Waltham. (the only candidate with a local presence, I might add.)

I've been on friendly terms with Susan Fargo since my first abortive attempt to run for School Committe in 2010...I"m hoping that Joe has the legs to make a legitimate run for the office this year. Who knows what may happen after that?