By Nate Leskovic
Times Staff
01/31/08
The ballots for the Tuesday, Feb. 5, presidential primary are ready for marking as Massachusetts takes part in the “Super-Duper Tuesday” battle.
Voters will get to weigh-in on their preferred candidate in either the Democratic, Green-Rainbow and Republican party. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. (see page four).
The Democratic candidates are Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
The Republican candidates are John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.
The Green-Rainbow candidates are Jared Ball, Cynthia McKinney, Kent Mesplay, Ralph Nader and Kat Swift.
Some on the ballot have already left the race. For the Democrats, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich and Bill Richardson are no longer running.
Green-Rainbow candidate Elaine Brown and Republicans Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter have dropped out.
Independents can vote in any party’s primary. This is the first year they do not have to fill out a “change card” after voting to rescind a de-facto registration with the party whose primary they voted in.
In addition to the presidential race, voters will pick members of the Democratic and Republican Town and State Committees, which work to promote the interests of the parties and back candidates.
Alex Goldstein, communications director for the state’s Democratic Party, says the state committee meets five or six times a year. “They’re essentially the board for the Democratic Party,” he says. “They serve as activists for major party initiatives.” Twenty-five Democrats and 35 Republicans will be picked for their respective committees. There are an equal number of candidates for available slots. One man and one woman are chosen from each senatorial district in both parties for the state committees. The Republican State Committee has one candidate per slot—Mimi Sundstrom of Milton and James Aldred from Randolph. The Democratic State Committee has one woman candidate, Marilyn Sullivan of Milton. Donald Falvey of Milton, Steven Fradkin of Stoughton and Barnas Monteith of Randolph are running for Democrat ic State Committee Man from the Norfolk and Suffolk District.