Reply #4: There was a comment yesterday in the Globe that the Repugs were [View All]

[Mass]

trying to get Essex Sheriff to run against Kennedy. The article seems to say that they have nobody running against him.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/10/12/gop_urges_essex_sheriff_to_take_on_kennedy/

GOP urges Essex sheriff to take on Kennedy

By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | October 12, 2005

Massachusetts Republican Party officials, down to their last chance to find a credible candidate, are working to persuade Essex Sheriff Frank G. Cousins Jr. to run against US Senator Edward M. Kennedy next year.

...

''It would be a massive undertaking and I don't know if I want to do that," said the 47-year-old former Republican state representative from Newburyport. If he declines to run, party officials say they are unlikely to find a potential GOP candidate who they feel could mount an effective challenge to Kennedy.

Governor William F. Weld appointed Cousins to the sheriff's post in 1996 to fill a vacancy. He was the first African-American to be a Massachusetts sheriff. He won elections in 1998 and 2004 in heavily Democratic Essex County.