South End campaign stops highlight challenges facing the remaining eight candidates
As the Nov. 3 municipal election nears, the frantic pace of the at-large City Council race continues to pick up. Each of the eight remaining candidates is giving up sleep and any notion of free time in order to win one of the four at-large seats. Case in point: incumbent John Connolly, who finished first on Sept. 22, almost 5,000 votes ahead of his colleague, second-place finisher Stephen Murphy, and 22,529 votes ahead of Andrew Kenneally, who took fifth. The frontrunner, like his opponents, is taking nothing for granted and putting down any rumors about a 2013 mayoral bid.
“No,” replied Connolly with laughs when South End News asked if he had given any thought to running for top office in 2013. “No, I learned a long time ago that at-large races are about Nov., not Sept., and the only thing I think about and focus on politically is running hard to Nov. and hopefully getting reelected. That’s all I think about.”
Connolly knows, because in 2005 he finished third in the preliminary election before falling to fifth in the finals. With eight candidates vying for four open seats-and only two incumbents in the mix after all four competed in the 2007 race-reading voters’ minds after the preliminary isn’t easy. Some voters simply voted for their top four, others voted strategically, choosing different candidates than they will in the final, some didn’t vote, some did and won’t in Nov., and others may be swayed from one camp to another. Voters left 132,514 blanks in the at-large race, versus a total of 194,550 votes tallied.
The first-term councilor, who called the South End “a bellwether for the whole city” and “a point of emphasis” for his campaign, took the chance to connect face-to-face with about a dozen prospective voters at a meet-and-greet hosted by Blackstone/Franklin Square Neighborhood Association president Andrew Parthum at his Washington Street home on Thursday night, Sept. 24.
“Things change very quickly in at-large races, particularly with the multiple votes. I don’t take anything for granted. I need your vote, one of your four votes. I don’t have to be your first choice, I will gladly be your second choice; I don’t have to be your second, I’ll gladly be your third choice; and I don’t have to be your third either, but I have to be your fourth. If I’m not in the top four, I hope that you will stay home on Election Day,” Connolly told the group to laughs.
