Curt Schilling

Alright,

Here we are, 450+ days out from the first mid-term election cycle of this new administration. Despite the great amount of time separating now and then, the candidate selection process has already begun. The town is abuzz with talks of who will actually run and who is just causing trouble. But no one has caused quite as much of a stir as Curt Shilling.

Curt is an outspoken conservative, born-again Christian who supports the Iraqi War-effort unequivocally. He campaigned for G.W. Bush in 2004 and John McCain in 2008. He would probably be competing against one of two people; Martha Coakley (D), the Liberal Attorney General or Stephen Lynch (D), a more Conservative Congressman from the State.

This sets him up for an excellent run - the Hero of the '04, Curse-Breaking, Miracle Red-Sox Victory against two career politicians with a less than smooth track record. But there's one problem - He can't run as a Republican.

Because of Schillings registration status as an Independent, and because of state election rules saying that you must be registered with the party you intend to run with 90 days before the filing deadline - Schilling can't meet this criteria.

So what does this mean? Schilling has two options, neither of which are clean or easy. His first option would be to run whats called a Sticker-Ballot in which people place Stickers on the Ballot in order to show their support for Schilling who wouldn't otherwise be on it (how this works, I have no idea - but it's Massachusetts, we've been bearing with them since 1775.) His other option would be for someone else to get the nomination and then to withdraw and have the Republican party rename him as their man. This...is nothing short of fishy and would just put Schilling into shades of gray that I'm sure he doesn't want to be in (unlike the previous owner of the seat he is running for...*cough*Kennedy*cough*.)

So with those things in mind, Schilling has been appearing on local talk-shows talking about how unsure he is as to whether or not he wants to run. That's like me going to the South West Side of D.C. with $200 and telling the police I was wondering as to whether or not I want to buy drugs - he's going to run...maybe.

To conclude, I'm hoping that Schilling finds a good, honest way to run. I like him, I think he's going to be refreshing if he makes it to the Senate. More than that, I think he has a good chance to get in. But I hope he has the Moral Fortitude to do it in a way that keeps his name clean. After all, that's what makes him refreshing.

That's it.

Thank you and Good Night.