Ed O'Reilly Looks For Attention In Race With John Kerry

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O'Reilly Looks For Attention In Race With Kerry

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Aug 22, 2008 7:00 pm US/Eastern

O'Reilly Looks For Attention In Race With Kerry

Reporting
Peg Rusconi

BOSTON (WBZ) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 2: Edward O'Reilly thanked Democrats for their support at their annual convention in Lowell June 7.
WBZ
Click to enlarge 2 of 2: WBZ

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Gloucester attorney Ed O'Reilly, a one-time lobsterman, is navigating uncharted political waters. He's John Kerry's first primary opponent since Kerry was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984.

22-and-a-half percent of the delegates at the state convention voted to put his name on the ballot in the September primary.

"To get 1 of 4 of the state's active Democrats I feel very good about that," he told WBZ.

"Yeah, you've got a significant minority of Democratic votes. The question for Ed is how do you get from that to 50-percent plus 1?" asks WBZ political analyst Jon Keller.

O'Reilly was a firefighter before he was a lawyer. He has the name recognition in Gloucester, now he needs it statewide. He concedes it's a challenge when running against a longtime incumbent.

"My biggest challenge is to overcome the name recognition and let people know who I am and also to fight the money he has," he said.

"There's so much money involved in politics and he has so much of it."

For example, the Kerry campaign has launched a new TV ad, in which a wounded war veteran recounts how Kerry arranged for him to throw out the first pitch at Fenway Park on Patriot's Day.

O'Reilly takes issue with Kerry's 2002 vote to authorize the war in Iraq.

Kerry has refused to debate O'Reilly, claiming there's no room in his schedule.

Somebody in the Democratic Party called O'Reilly a nuisance. So, does he feel like one?

"I don't feel like a nuisance," he said. "I may feel like a nuisance to other people."

Kerry or O'Reilly will face Republican Jeff Beatty in November. Beatty is a former Army Delta Force officer from Harwich who is unopposed in the GOP primary.