The connection between an At-Large race and a run-off in
Afghanistan
By Gintautas Dumcius
Contributing Editor
Nov. 2, 2009
Missing from the group of pols and volunteers who lined Blue
Hill Ave. on Sunday afternoon for Ayanna Pressley’s City
Council At-Large bid was the big gun who had hoped to be
there for the weekend before the Nov. 3 election. But U.S.
Sen. John Kerry, Pressley’s ex-boss, had a pretty good reason:
Another election 6,600 miles away.
Due to an emergency call from the State Department, Kerry
earlier that day had to step off the local election trail after
revving up the crowds for Pressley at Concord Baptist Church
in the South End and Morning Star Baptist in Mattapan. A
source close to the senator confirmed that it was related to the
election in Afghanistan.
Kerry had helped apply intense pressure on President Hamid
Karzai to accept a run-off. The challenger, Abdullah Abdullah,
withdrew from the run-off on Sunday because he felt a fair
election had become impossible.
Before heading back to Washington D.C. on Monday morning,
Kerry told the Reporter that Pressley is a careful listener and
relationship-builder. “I’ve seen her at meetings, when we’ve
had events with sectors of the community. I’ve watched her
skill at interacting with people. She’s a good communicator.
She’s very good at sensing needs and responding to them,”
said the senator, who cast a ballot in person at City Hall.
Kerry also spent Saturday knocking on doors in West Roxbury
with Pressley, who has worked for him as his political
director, and local District Councillor John Tobin, who had
also endorsed her. Pressley’s campaign had been careful of
how to use Kerry, particularly since this is a local election.
Kerry avidly followed the race: he speaks and exchanges text
messages with Pressley regularly. At the Blue Hill Ave.
standout in Mattapan, Pressley had some back-up: Suffolk
County Sheriff Andrea Cabral, District 4 Councillor Charles
Yancey, and state Reps. Gloria Fox, Willie Mae Allen, and
Elizabeth Malia.
“It’s just voter contact, voter contact, voter contact,” Pressley
said.
Rep. Fox appeared to give that to her in spades, nearly losing
her voice in the process as she hauled Pressley into a barber
shop and stopped to hand out campaign literature to MBTA
bus drivers.
NOTE: This originally appeared on the Dorchester Reporter's
political blog, The Lit Drop.
More articles are available at the Reporter's website.
Afghanistan
By Gintautas Dumcius
Contributing Editor
Nov. 2, 2009
Missing from the group of pols and volunteers who lined Blue
Hill Ave. on Sunday afternoon for Ayanna Pressley’s City
Council At-Large bid was the big gun who had hoped to be
there for the weekend before the Nov. 3 election. But U.S.
Sen. John Kerry, Pressley’s ex-boss, had a pretty good reason:
Another election 6,600 miles away.
Due to an emergency call from the State Department, Kerry
earlier that day had to step off the local election trail after
revving up the crowds for Pressley at Concord Baptist Church
in the South End and Morning Star Baptist in Mattapan. A
source close to the senator confirmed that it was related to the
election in Afghanistan.
Kerry had helped apply intense pressure on President Hamid
Karzai to accept a run-off. The challenger, Abdullah Abdullah,
withdrew from the run-off on Sunday because he felt a fair
election had become impossible.
Before heading back to Washington D.C. on Monday morning,
Kerry told the Reporter that Pressley is a careful listener and
relationship-builder. “I’ve seen her at meetings, when we’ve
had events with sectors of the community. I’ve watched her
skill at interacting with people. She’s a good communicator.
She’s very good at sensing needs and responding to them,”
said the senator, who cast a ballot in person at City Hall.
Kerry also spent Saturday knocking on doors in West Roxbury
with Pressley, who has worked for him as his political
director, and local District Councillor John Tobin, who had
also endorsed her. Pressley’s campaign had been careful of
how to use Kerry, particularly since this is a local election.
Kerry avidly followed the race: he speaks and exchanges text
messages with Pressley regularly. At the Blue Hill Ave.
standout in Mattapan, Pressley had some back-up: Suffolk
County Sheriff Andrea Cabral, District 4 Councillor Charles
Yancey, and state Reps. Gloria Fox, Willie Mae Allen, and
Elizabeth Malia.
“It’s just voter contact, voter contact, voter contact,” Pressley
said.
Rep. Fox appeared to give that to her in spades, nearly losing
her voice in the process as she hauled Pressley into a barber
shop and stopped to hand out campaign literature to MBTA
bus drivers.
NOTE: This originally appeared on the Dorchester Reporter's
political blog, The Lit Drop.
More articles are available at the Reporter's website.
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