White team out to capture votes

By Elizabeth McNamara

The plain white walls of Republican candidate William A. White’s campaign headquarters are wallpapered in sheets of yellow Post-it Notes, past newspaper articles, and printed, marked-up Excel grids. 

“Have you looked at me!? Have you looked at this office?!” said Joseph P. Lynch, White’s campaign manager, hours before the polls were to close on the general election for the 2^nd Middlesex Senate seat vacated by the death of Charles E. Shannon.

          

Unlike Patricia D. Jehlen, the Democratic candidate in the election, Lynch said he expected today’s voter count to “be strong, if not stronger than” the primary match, if not exceed the over-18,000 votes counted in the Aug. 30 primary election. 

“This morning started out slow, then around noon activity at the polls increased drastically,” he said.  “I couldn’t tell you if we’re going to match the primaries or if we’ll go above those numbers.  But I’m thinking we might.”

The office was buzzing.  Trying desperately not to block incoming phone calls from the various polls in

Somerville

,

Medford

,

Winchester

and

Woburn

, the White team was quick to get on and off the telephone line.

“We know where we have a stronghold, and we know where we need help,” Lynch said.

White’s campaign employed a structured system of calling, leaving messages, checking off a confirmed “yes” if the called confirmed a vote for White, a “no” if not. 

“

Somerville

’s really fired-up about this one: They have two candidates from

Somerville

and that inspires voting; it rallies local loyalty,” said Lynch.  “We’re not expecting high numbers from Medford because they don’t have their hometown candidate from the primaries.  But we’re leaning hard on Winchester; they have a large conservative republican voting block and a large conservative democrat voting block that could help us.”

In the past three weeks, Lynch said many people asked about the frustrations the White team battled in waiting for the results of the Democratic primaries. 

“And it’s not an active part of how the campaign launched itself.  Bill always had a plan in mind – there was just one part of it that you can’t put in place until after the primaries,” said Lynch. “Well, he always knew he’d be facing a Democrat; that was known.  But you can’t complete the picture with the other half of the puzzle missing.  For each of the candidates from the primaries he had different strategies planned out.”

Once the primary results favored Jehlen, Lynch said the following day, White plugged the pre-planned line of attack that caters to her direct opposition. 

“He knew should it be the opposition with enormous financial backing, we knew we’d be competing with an enormous paid volunteer base,” he said. “We have to assume these things.  They have an army of volunteers and we have to try to at least match them person-for-person.”

Though he helped significantly, Lynch, a Democrat, said White was significantly involved in the campaign organization.

“He has a very keen mind when it comes to his campaign.  He never speaks before he thinks,” said Lynch.  “And he started thinking hard about this election in mid- or early May. [White] always had several approaches in mind.  He never had just one strategy; there were multiple he had to put in play.  And it’s not difficult to execute that with a volunteer staff of 45-50 people,” Lynch said.

Lynch said he feels the community that produced White will support him today if they can capture enough voters. 

“Really, there’s no secret to a campaign other than a great candidate, a great message and a great volunteer force,” said Lynch.  “And he’s got all three.”