Free Republic

BOSTON - Longshot U.S. Senate candidate Ed O’Reilly battered incumbent Sen. John Kerry over his vote to authorize the Iraq war and his delivery of funding to Massachusetts, and questioned his commitment to serve out a full term, but failed to inflict major damage on the four-term senator during a brief debate Friday. O'Reilly grew up in Watertown and has deep ties to the town. In what will likely be their only staged debate, scheduled for air on WBZ-TV Sunday at 8:30 am, O’Reilly also accused Kerry of not doing enough to help other Democratic candidates, a charge Kerry called...

LOWELL – Gloucester attorney Ed O’Reilly got enough support from party officials today to ensure that he will give US Senator John F. Kerry his first Democratic primary challenge in 24 years. At the state Democratic Party convention at the Paul E. Tsongas Arena, O’Reilly got 22.5 percent of the 2,574 ballots cast, more than the 15 percent he needed to secure a spot on the primary ballot. Kerry got the majority of votes, which means he'll get the party's endorsement. "Party officials said this campaign is a nuisance. And it is. It’s a total nuisance," O’Reilly said to the...

U.S. Sen. John Kerry - wary of a potential political embarrassment - has been calling in favors to top Bay State Democrats in a bid to block a Gloucester lawyer from getting on the ballot to challenge him, the Herald has learned. Several high-ranking Democrats said the senator has reached out in recent days seeking support and asking for help in preventing attorney Ed O’Reilly from getting the convention votes he needs to force a September primary race against Kerry. O’Reilly, a former firefighter, needs 15 percent support from the Democratic State Committee at the party’s convention Saturday in Lowell...

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, during his narrowly unsuccessful bid as the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, excoriated President Bush for his handling of the war in Iraq, and has only stepped up the volume of his criticisms in the years since. But Kerry was one of a sizable number of Democrats who were in the Senate in October 2002 and voted then to authorize Bush to use military force as an option to oust the Iraqi regime of dictator Saddam Hussein. And among the Democratic activists who have never forgotten or forgiven that vote is lawyer Ed O’Reilly — who announced...