Another Third Wheel

I was trying to revive my blog a few weeks ago by writing a few pieces in advance so I'd get some momentum. Plan never came together, but I did write this one. Today's Tisei-Tierney race reminded me what role a spoiler could play..


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Anyone remember Eric Elbot?

As reporter at the Haverhill Gazette in 1991-92 I got to cover a bit of the sixth congressional district race when Barbara Hildt's challenged sitting and embattled incumbent Nick Mavroules.

The race seems extraordinary now. Both were Democrats. Hildt was a state representative for Amesbury, Newburyport and Salisbury, the seat now held by Michael Costello. Mavroules had been the congressman for 14 years. This surprises me a bit. To a then 23-year-old reporter from Revere he seemed like he'd held the seat for a lifetime.

Anyway, reading back on the race reminds you how fascinating that campaign was. A Grand Jury INDICTED Mavroules on 17 counts of bribery, tax evasion, influence peddling less than a month before the September primary. INDICTED!

Yet he still beat a credible candidate like Hildt, albeit by only 681 votes. (He's eventually lose to Republican Peter Torkildsen, the man Tierney would defeat two years later to win his current seat. Mavroules eventually pled guilty to the charges and served over a year in prison. He died in 2003.)

Why? Some blamed Eric Elbot, a little known administrator from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government who also ran for the Democratic nomination.

Numerically, they're probably right. Elbot drew 6,823 votes (7%) of the votes. Given Mavroules' troubles it's realistic to think that most of those votes would have gone to Hildt, the challenger, rather than Mavroules, the embattled incumbent.

Anyway, I got to thinking about Eric Elbot when I read the Daily News article about Daniel Fishman, the independent challenger in this year's Sixth Congressional race. Once again, you've got an embattled Incumbent in John Tierney - embroiled in an ongoing scandal surrounding his family's gambling convictions - facing a credible opponent, this time a moderate Republican in Richard Tisei, and along comes the third choice, Fishman.

No one is quite sure how Fishman will impact the race but, as the article suggest, he will be a factor.

Just like Eric Elbot.