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There was lots of activity in Democratic circles across the Commonwealth this past Saturday as caucuses were held to elect delegates to the 2012 Democratic National Convention scheduled to open on Labor Day in Charlotte, NC. The Massachusetts 135-member delegation will be filled out by vote at the DSC meeting in May. Fall-out from the recent U. S. Census and redistricting saw only nine caucuses in re-numbered and re-aligned districts. Democrats from Billerica and Tewksbury along with a few from Andover could not join their former 5th District brethren in the new 3rd District caucus at the Elks in Lowell. Now part of the 6th District - Tewkbury DTC members traveled to Peabody High School early on a beautiful Saturday morning along scenic backroads and byways in Wilmington, North Reading, Reading, North Andover, Middleton or on Rte. 93 or Rte. 128.

Our Tewksbury crowd felt welcome – well almost! Well-known, longtime town Democratic activist Rita O’Brien Dee was told that her  name wasn’t on the official voters list. When asked about the list – they said it was the official list from the Town of Tewksbury! I assume from the Clerk’s office. Horrors! Rita – a Tewksbury native – is a long-time Tewksbury poll worker  – how could she not be on the list? Whew! MassDems and the Secretary of State’s office cleared her for voting. We had a local candidate to support – our town committee treasurer Bob Demers. We  district-newbies sat down-front so we didn’t miss a thing! Congressman Tierney ran the proceedings himself. Things went quickly and smoothly. While Bob didn’t win one of the coverted spots, our friend, DSC member and 50-year Democratic actvist Tom Larkin of Bedford did win. The full slate includes: Ralph Edwards of Swampscott, Tom Larkin of Bedford, Louis Masiello of Salisbury (fomerly of Methuen), Stanley Slepoy of Rowley, Catherine Bayliss of Gloucester, Stella Pierce of Beverly, Mary Ann Rutter of Boxford, Margaret Somer of Swampscott and alternate Dr. Donald Green of Reading.

On a side note – It’s a small world – sitting in front of me at the 6th CD caucus at Peabody HS was Bob Gallagher  – now an ordained, delayed vocation  Episcopal priest – who was raised in Pawtucketville and is a  Keith Academy Class of 1958 grad. We had a nice chat about Lowell. Trying to place him in the vast cast of Lowell Gallaghers, I learned that his father Joe Gallagher had painting business. His sisters went to Notre Dame Academy in Tyngsboro. He fondly recalled our Bishop McNamara who was Fr. John at St. Rita’s parish back in the day before he became a Navy chaplain and Father Hyder – later Monsignor – from St. Margaret’s, Fr. Spike Morissette and the Lowell Oblates. We find the Lowell connection everywhere!

Here’s a photo of the April 21, 2012 6th CD caucus gathering – from Congressman Tierney’s Facebook page:

 Former Mayor of Methuen Bill Manzi (from the files of the Eagle Tribune)

Since former State Senator Steve Baddour resigned from his seat on April 1 to join a prestigious Boston law firm, rumors have been running around the Valley about a possible successor. Would former State Senator and Baddour-mentor Jim Jajuga run? Would former Methuen Mayor Bill Manzi switch gears from a determined primary run against incumbent Register of Deeds Essex-North Robert Kelley? What about Haverhill Mayor Jim Fiorintini and Newburyport Mayor Donna Holaday? As the May 1st deadline for signatures needed for nomination looms, the candidate roster is becoming clear.

With Jajuga, Fiorintini and Holaday opting out of the race, Bill Mazi has declared that he is “in” the Democratic nomination race along with Methuen City Councilor Sean Fountain, Methuen resident Sharon Birchall and Newburyport City Councilor Kathleen O’Connor Ives. On the GOP side Haverhill School Committee member Shaun Toohey and Haverhill resident and former congressional candidate Sam Meas took out papers along with Amesbury City Councilor James Kelcourse who opts for a run as an unenrolled candidate. They need 300 certified signature to qualify for the ballot.

Stay tuned for an interesting race with Bill Manzi surely the front-runner all around.

Read more here in Doug Moser’s article in today’s Eagle Tribune.

Mass Moments reminds us that on this day April 16, 1952 Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill  announced his run for the 8th Congressional District seat about to be vacated by John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was elected to the U. S. Senate later in the year. The affable, lovable, Irish gentleman from Cambridge had already served as Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Beneath the wit, charm and smile, Tip O’Neill was serious and skillful – the consummate politician who later reigned for 39 years in the U. S. House of Representatives – serving ten years as one of the most powerful men to become Speaker of the U. S. House. I had occasion to meet the Speaker for the first time during a trip to DC with Bill and the boys. He was incredibily charismatic yet down-to-earth – definitely of the people as he spoke of coming up our way as a kid to Nuttings Lake… all fond memories. The boys got to sit in the Speaker’s chair.  ”All politics is local” he was wont to say… he remembered where he came from. As his  North Cambridge neighbors said, “His hat still fit.”

      ...in 1952, Thomas P. (“Tip”) O’Neill of Cambridge announced that he would run for the Congressional seat being vacated by John F. Kennedy as Kennedy began a campaign for the Senate. O’Neill had already served seven terms in the state legislature. He would serve in the U.S. Congress for the next 39 years, the last ten as Speaker of the House. An affable man who believed “all politics is local,” O’Neill played an important role in national affairs —supporting civil rights, opposing the Vietnam War, and leading the fight for liberal causes. Although one of the most powerful men in the nation, at his death in 1994, O’Neill was remembered as a man who “never forgot where he came from.”

In 1978.  Jim Shannon a young lawyer from Lawrence won the Democratic nomination for the 5th Congressional District in a race to replace incumbent Paul E. Tsongas who was in the U. S. Senate race against incumbent Ed Brooke. Speaker Tip O’Neill came to Lowell to support Jim’s campaign. Below he is phographed at an event for Jim at the Speare House. Pictured: Jim Shannon, Marie Sweeney, Speaker O’Neill and Dr. Bill Sweeney. (Those were the days!)