Dave Rogers in Menotomy....

The 24th Middlesex Democratic Primary keeps trudging along, now a mere two weeks away, a moment of truth looms for something like four very active precincts in Arlington.

So, comes to town one Dave Rogers an attorney and a democrat from North Cambridge who seems to think he can "Shoe Leather" his ass into the Great and General Court.
He is a very bright, patient and persuasive fellow who has been "Good to His Mother"and is blessed with a good memory.
All reasonable qualities in a state representative I grant you.
He also claims to have knocked on some 2,200 doors throughout the district seeking direct contact with voters, this is the "Marzilli Model"for election, maximum voter access supported by a strong get out the vote effort on election day.
Whether or not a North Cambridger can win using this method in a district dominated by the inscrutable Town of Belmont, remains to be seen.
He has the usual list of liberal priorities ( Helping the needy, education, public transportation, the environment a certain commitment to investing in public institutions etc etc), there are certain tax credits he wants to sunset (notably the film tax break) and like any good would be freshman legislator, he wants "reform before revenue".
Which was Deval Patrick's mantra back in the day.
Oh and like almost everyone from Left to Right in East Arlington and Belmont he wants to prevent the infamous "Mugar Property"from being handed over to private development.
Along this lines Rogers does have some good ideas, among them centralizing procurement services for the various Commonwealth departments...That alone could be a big cost savings over time.
Politically Rogers just picked up the endorsement of the SEIU as well as ATDC Chairperson Aimee Coolidge (this is very important, Coolidge is a Spartan Warlord in Menotomy, she has many friends and is a tireless organizer),  neutral State Senators Ken Donnelly and Will Brownsberger have allegedly been saying nice things about the Rogers campaign as well.
But lets be blunt, the Man faces long odds, it is predicted to be a low turn primary (scheduled for Thursday the Sixth I believe) amidst school starting up, a Jewish Holiday, Labor Day and the Democratic National Convention no less!
That however might turn to Dave Rogers favor if he can gin up the vote in the high democratic turn out wards in Arlington & North Cambridge and then surf the waves off of a "Battle for the Soul of Belmont" between Reardon and Hegarty.

Of course doing all this is a labor intensive enterprise and so far I haven't seen much of a presence on behalf of any of the captioned democrats in Arlington....I begin to wonder if a low turnout in Arlington is what certain candidates are counting on?

I could be wrong, it is hard to gauge progress in a local campaign like this, lacking polls and sustained dedicated press coverage, I guarantee you Humble Elias was the closest thing to a "journalist" at last night's candidate coffee....now that is a thought to truly chill the blood!