Delahunt cabal fails, former Cape pol drops out

Daily quote: "It was painful to make this decision." - Rob O'Leary.

Former State Senator Rob O'Leary withdrawals, ruins Sutter challenge as well

Rob O'Leary decided not to "pull a Bellotti" after all

By Walter Brooks

A year ago Bill Delahunt(center) beamed as Rob O'Leary (right) pledged his support to Bill Keating (left). Paul Rifkin photo.

Amonth ago the Barnstable pol threw his hat in the ring to try to usurp the Democratic Party nomination for Congress in this district away from the incumbent Bill Keating who lives in Bourne and a fellow Democrat.

Former State Senator Rob O'Leary called in his chips a couple weeks ago from those he assumed would support his second run for Congress, but he discovered he was decidedly old news and that his former supporters were quite smitten with incumbent Congressman Bill Keating who has already raised over a half mil in his reelection bid.

He probably missed the political history chapter about how a party reacts to members who run against popular incumbents who are certain to win reelection. Such moves usually end up poorly for the party as happened here when Francis X. Bellotti ran against his own sitting Governor exactly fifty years ago in 1962 which cost the Democrats the governor's chair.

Delahunt's other "Bellotti" just lost his challenge as well

As we first reported here a month ago, our longtime now-retired Congressman William Delahunt was conniving to unseat his successor from his own party, a move which his party collectively turned their noses up at.

Bill Keating will have enough trouble fighting off another challenge from another Democrat who lives in a section of Fall River which is just outside the new district borders.

E. Samuel Sutter was lured into the race against his own party's incumbent by the seriously tarnished former U.S. Congressman William "I can get an earmark for you" Delahunt who managed to test Congressional ethics rules enough to get him a $170,000 lobbyist fee from our our Mashpee Indians Tribe since he served on the D.C. subcommittee on Indian affairs for years on our dime.

Sam Sutter’s race for the Democratic nomination in the new 9th Congressional district just hit a brick wall with Rob O’Leary out of the race.

Bill Keating is an honest, law and order man, and Bill Delahunt is something else.To be sure, Representative Bill Keating was always going to be the favorite in this race.  He is an incumbent member of Congress (though not an incumbent of the new 9th, technically speaking) and if there is anything the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee dislikes, it’s intra-party skirmishes.

The new 9th district has three distinct and different political pockets: the South Shore, the South Coast and Cape Cod & the Islands.

Sutter is strong on the South Coast where he is a county District Attorney, Keating's original strength was the South Shore as Norfolk County D.A., and O'Leary's strength was on the Cape & Islands where he was the State Senator for years.

Now O'Leary old stronghold has fallen to Bill Keating, and we should see Sutter end his bid before he damages his own party any further.

Read the previous stories about Delahunt's cabal below.

• Town and Tribe--What do Hull and the Wampanoags have in common?
• Globe weighs in on Delahunt's sabotage
• Delahunt pay-off delayed; JFK's last tapes
• Hypocrisy thy name is Delahunt
• Romney, Delahunt, Hugo Chavez and wind money
• Bristol County DA Sutter wants to change the atmosphere in DC