Jim Ogonowski released the following statement this afternoon:
"I have made my decision regarding the future of this US Senate race. Clearly, we had some issues this week regarding signatures. Mistakes were made along the way. But, any good military officer knows that when you are in command, the responsibilities are yours alone. The buck stops with me and I take that responsibility. There has been and will continue to be a lot of Monday morning quarter-backing and people trying to figure out what happened. But, the truth is, it doesn't matter. We could play that game all day long. But, the facts are the facts. For a variety of reasons, we did not meet the signature requirements. And at this time, I have decided not to pursue this endeavor.I provide a sincere thank you to those that stood by me. I am sorry that we did not succeed. I ask for patience as my family and I move forward."
This is an unfortunate end to Ogonowski's campaign. With the support Ogonowski had, something like this should never have happened. Hub Politics chose not to make any primary endorsement, and we're highly disappointed that a technicality, instead of a primary election, decided the course of the GOP race for John Kerry's senate seat.
MassGOP Chairman Peter Torkildsen released the following statement:
"Today, we congratulate Jeff Beatty on becoming the Republican nominee to challenge John Forbes Kerry for the U.S. Senate. We also thank Jim Ogonowski for running a brief, but spirited campaign. Jeff and Jim both spoke of need for change in Washington D.C., with that change beginning with the election of a new U.S. Senator to represent Massachusetts."Now that we have a nominee, the Massachusetts Republican Party offers its full support to Jeff Beatty. John Kerry and Deval Patrick are living proof that one-party monopolies are a disaster for our Commonwealth."
