was doing well until Elizabeth Warren left the Obama Administration and started running for the Democratic senatorial nomination.
Now Democratic leaders are reportedly urging Khazei to abandon the race so Warren doesn’t have to face a draining primary campaign.
Khazei and Warren both want to challenge Republican Scott Brown, the man who surprised the entire country when he won a special election to succeed the late Sen. Edward Kennedy in a very Democratic state.
Warren was the head of consumer advocacy for Obama until a few weeks ago when she returned to Massachusetts to run.
She is now the front-runner. Two other declared candidates have already dropped out of the race and many party leaders are said to be urging Khazei and the three others remaining to do so, too.
But Khazei is defiant. “I’m not leaving this race. … I have an agenda that I’m laying out and fighting for,” Khazei told the Boston Herald. “This primary is 11 months away.”
Khazei raised $365,000 last quarter, a steep drop from the roughly $1 million he took in his first quarter, indicating money may be drying up now that Warren, a Harvard Law professor, has declared and immediately emerged as the front-runner.
“[Khazei] is not going to be a viable candidate with that kind of fund-raising,” Democratic consultant Mary Anne Marsh told the Herald. “He needs to ask himself if he has enough money and political support to make this a true two-person race.”
Khazei said he has no doubts about his support, saying, “I’m getting a great response out there.”
However, both Bob Massie and Newton Mayor Setti Warren exited within the past 10 days, citing an inability to raise money. That leaves Khazei and three others challenging Warren.
A poll taken last month showed Warren with 55 percent support and Khazei in second place with just 9 percent.
The Herald quoted Democratic consultant Michael Shea as saying the only way Khazei can slow Warren’s momentum is to outright attack her, a desperate move that could backfire if he battered her up and cost the Democrats their best chance to wrest the seat from the GOP.
“There are lots of people who are looking to clear the field” and get the other candidates to drop out, Shea said. He said it’s good that Khazei tests Warren before she faces Brown, but “if he’s seen as the guy who keeps the Democrats from winning the Senate seat, it won’t be good.”
Khazei insisted any clashes with Warren would be good for the party’s nominee. “I think debate is healthy, I think it’s good for our party,” he said.
But if Khazei hangs on and softens Warren up for Brown, it could anger Democrats and compromise his chances at another run for another elective office.
