A Conversation with Sean Bielat

Sean Bielat, candidate for Congress in Massachusetts 4th Congressional district, participated in a conference call this evening with a number of bloggers. In 2010, Bielat ran against Barney Frank. Unfortunately, Frank won that race but clearly he was scarred by the experience of actually facing a competent opponent and recently announced his retirement from Congress.

Faced with an empty office in DC, panicky Massachusetts Democrats hit the "DEFAULT" button and scrounged up...a Kennedy. Joseph P. Kennedy, III to be exact. Like Howie says, this is Peace Corps vs. Marine Corps. In one corner, a former Marine, businessman and guy who did build that. In the other, a...guy with a famous name who regards the press the same way a vampire looks at the sun.

In the call, Bielat talked about his commitment to constitutional values, fiscal responsibility and economic growth. He framed this election as a choice between "the visions of government presented by Mitt Romney and those of Barack Obama." He said that Obama has criticized the Paul Ryan plan, but hit the SCOAMF for not offering one of his own.

Bielat's district includes Scott Brown's hometown, so this is a winnable race. He has a chance with independents and Brown voters. What he really needs are the resources to run ads in the expensive Boston media market.

In 1979, Roger Mudd asked one of JoJoJo Kennedy's relatives why he wanted to be president. That interview...did not end well. When asked why he wanted to be in Congress, Bielat had a much better answer.

"I got into this in 2010 because like many Americans I was frustrated with what I was seeing in DC," he said. " My congressman was Barney Frank and he had not had a competitive race since 1982 and I saw we had a chance in the 4th district." Bielat gave Frank the most competition he'd had in years, and now says he's running again for the same ideals, but with much more personal motivation.

"I have a nine month old daughter and a two year old son, so for me this idea of making us sustainable for the next generation is important," Bielat said. "We need to change now and part of the way we do that is send people to Washington who aren’t worried about their next election...I will focus on substantive policy issues. If [Kennedy] wants to talk about issues, I want to have that debate."

Bielat struck me as an impressive, serious guy who can win. His opponent is a Kennedy who's not hurting for funds. To compete, Bielat needs our help. So shake those piggy banks and let's make this happen.

Every time one of you donates, a Kennedy's tears waters down their Chivas. Below, a video that shows the difference between a guy running on the hope that voters like his name, and a guy who is running on actual change. Let's do this, morons.

posted by Slublog at 09:39 PM

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