First Gay vs. Gay race in Massachusetts history

Voters turn out in record off-year numbers, Cape outpaces state for Patrick
Lower Cape GOP Rep race; Maloy by 9 votes ahead of Howell, 31 ahead of Buckley setting the stage for the state's first-ever Gay vs. Gay Rep race

The Republican Party on the Outer Cape is showing how to get voters involved, and perhaps confused as well.

The primary campaign for the Barnstable 4th to pick a GOP candidate to replace Shirley Gomes was a slugfest from the start.

Aaron Maloy, a young, at the time, 24 year-old avowed gay male, got a strong old guard and conservative backing from the Orleans area, and Harwich's Selectman, Don Howell, and former Chatham Selectman, Andy Buckley rounded out the field.

Massachusetts leads the nation again 

The race went downhill from there with charges of sign-theft between Maloy and Buckley while Howell stood quietly on the sidelines trying to look dignified--a skill for which the GOP was once renown. 

According to Boston's Channel 5, the race is too close to call with 42 votes separating the third place from the presumptive winner, but apparently all the votes are counted and barring a recount challenge, Maloy is the winner. The margin of victory for Aaron Maloy was 25 in Provincetown, and 21 in Truro.  Insiders opined that  Sarah Peake supporters pulled GOP ballots to boost Maloy so she can beat him in November more easily than either Buckley or Howell.

But Aaron Maloy, a young gay male will face Sarah Peake, an avowed lesbian, in the first gay vs. gay race in US history this November in the Barnstable 4th.  Only on Cape Cod.  And only in Massachusetts.

Massachusetts will lead the nation in another sense this November--another first  for the commonwealth--with a black man and a woman both vying for the coveted corner office.   If elected, Patrick would become the second black American governor of any state in the union. 

But the GOP uproar didn't end there. Last week Mr. Buckley's ex-wife started slamming her ex-husband in "Buckley's Blog" on this online newspaper site. At first, observers thought she would hurt him.  But as the exchange went on (100 comments to date) and Mr. Buckley refused to diss his ex in return, a clear sympathy vote began to grow turning Buckley into a 4th district contender on CapeCodToday's front page poll.

Sarah Peake, Ric Barros easy winners 

In the GOP contest for State Senator, Centerville attorney Ric Barros, whose campaigns signs were stolen early yesterday morning, won by nearly 20% ahead of Nantucket Selectman Doug Bennett--with only half the votes counted at press time. Barros even creamed Bennett on both islands.

In the Lower Cape (Barnstable 4th) Democratic race, Provincetown Selectwoman Sarah Peake trounced her two challengers, Harwich's Ray Gottwald and Chatham's Ron Bergstrom. 

The tally was Peake 55%, Howell 24%  and Bergstrom 21% with the votes count complete.

Patrick does better on Cape than statewide

When Deval Patrick endorsed the Cape Wind project last October, the Democratic leadership on the Cape reacted by doubling their support for AG Tom Reilly.  The local daily press began a series of stories and eventually endorsed Reilly's candidacy.

But it hurt rather than helped Tom Reilly. When Patrick announced a year ago, Reilly was polled at 40% ahead of him, and yesterday the Attorney General barely beat Chris Gabrieli here on Cape Cod and Deval Patrick did 3% better here than even across the state.

In the final tally today on Cape Cod it was Patrick: 53%, Reilly 26%, Gabrieli 21%. Patrick got 50% of the votes statewide. Reporter/columnist Jack Coleman was correct when he predicted that  Patrick's early support of the wind farm helped him statewide, but even more here on Cape Cod.

Harwich's Andrea Silbert a distant third for Lt. Governor

The campaign trail ended for one Caper Codder last night when Worcester Mayor Tim Murray with 43% beat both Deb Goldberg with 34% and Andrea Silbert with 23% for the Democratic nomination to face GOP Reed Hillman in November. See the tally here.

Since the Republican candidate for governor was disinclined to allow the Lt. Governor choice to be decided by the voters, Mr. Hillman was chosen as a running mate last summer by Kerry Healey.