EXTRA - Blue Mass. Group receives press release!

In a move sure to rock the Massachusetts political landscape, Pat Jehlen's campaign for state Senate has emailed a press release directly to Blue Mass. Group.  Jehlen's blog-friendly strategy bodes well for the role of the blogosphere in this and other upcoming elections.  In related news, Blue Mass. Group posts appear first on a Google search for "jehlen senate."

Seriously, it's nice to be on the mailing list.

Oh yeah - the release actually does have some contents.  It turns out that Robert Reich has endorsed Jehlen for Senate.  From the release:

“Pat Jehlen is the kind of principled, progressive Democrat we need in the State Senate,” said Reich. “She has spent her adult life fighting for education funding, better jobs, affordable healthcare, and a fair playing field for working families. She has been a leader on child labor issues, raising the minimum wage, and boosting local aid to help cities and towns. I believe Pat will be a great Senator on Beacon Hill, and I hope everyone in the district will join me in supporting her in the special election.”

Reich, of course, ran a "progressive" campaign for the Democratic nomination for Governor in 2002, but could not beat Shannon O'Brien. 

As far as we are aware, Reich's is the first official endorsement to be reported in this race, although there's lots of yakkity-yak about who is unofficially backing whose campaign.  The question of course is whether endorsements mean much in a race like this.  With a packed field, a late-summer (i.e., very low turnout) primary, and a lot of names that many folks have never heard of, it's practically going to boil down to who gets the most family members to show up.  Maybe, at the margins, endorsements will turn out a few extra votes.  And maybe, since it's possible that the race will be close, a few extra votes is all it will take.  Recall that Tim Schofield lost the special election for the Allston-Brighton seat by only 64 votes - and maybe if either the Globe or the Phoenix had endorsed him instead of Mike Moran, the result would have been different.  Obviously, the key is getting out your base.  But endorsements can't hurt.