Mihos Delays Running Mate Choice
by Aaron Margolis, May 4th, 2006 at 01:26pm
Perhaps there is trouble in Christy’s Market. The Boston Herald is reporting that Christy Mihos’s campaign manager says not to expect a choice until the summer.
In early April, Mihos said he’d pick a running mate within weeks, and even joked to reporters that he’d send the candidate to Attorney General Tom Reilly’s office for a background check. Now campaign manager Peter Pendergast says Mihos has set a new deadline of July, allowing the campaign time to conduct a slow, thorough search while still leaving a month to gather the needed signatures before the August deadline to get on the ballot.
“We just decided that we are not going to rush because we don’t need to rush,” Pendergast said.
But the delay could evidence difficulties Mihos is having finding a candidate who can boost the ticket and who is also eligible to run. Under state law, nonparty candidates must have been unenrolled in a political party as of March 7.
Pendergast admitted the restrictions had a role in the delay. “There are people who we would have loved to have chosen but whose party affiliation got in the way,” he said. But Pendergast insisted the main reason for the delay was to avoid a situation similar to Reilly’s pick of Rep. Marie St. Fleur, who withdrew a day after she was announced amid revelations of unpaid bills and taxes.
Gubernatorial candidates are not paired with running mates in primary election but in recent races candidates have designated their preferred partner. Before deciding to run as an independent, Mihos asked former lieutenant governor candidate Jim Rappaport to be his GOP running mate, a source close to the talks told the Herald. After he declined, Mihos is said to have considered former U.S. Rep. Peter Blute and Patriots quarterback Doug Flutie.
There can be no doubt that if Mihos held true to his alleged life-long Republican roots, he would have chosen a running mate by now. Had he done that, he might had a fighting chance, but as a third party candidate, it will be tough to recruit someone to go down with the ship.
Entry Filed under: Christy Mihos
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