Is Martha Coakley about to be Coakley'd by AG write in candidate Jim McKenna in Nov.?

It is looking like Attorney General Martha Coakley will have a Republican challenger in  the November election. This is due to a remarkable accomplishment of garnering over 10,000 write in votes in yesterday’s GOP primary by Jim McKenna. 

According to Secretary of State William Galvin, McKenna already has  received greater than 5,000 write-in votes from yesterday’s primary.  Galvin tells WBZ there is a good chance that McKenna could become a contender in the race for attorney general because officials still need to count ballots from more than 290 Massachusetts cities and towns.

Jim McKenna on twitter ( @JimForAG ) twitted:

WE DID IT! It's Big! I Mean Really Big! We didn't just make it - We Crushed it! Martha Coakley has an opponent and his name is Jim McKenna

The next question is can Martha Coakley possibly pull a bigger political choke job than losing the Kennedy’s Senate seat to a virtual unknown Republican from Wrentham, MA? Well after pulling one of the worst run campaigns in modern political history don’t sell her short. To lose the Massachusetts AG race to a relatively unknown Republican write in Candidate would top even her January election loss in the special Senate election.

The fact that Jim McKenna in short preparation could procure what has been estimated as 10 - 50,000 votes is a testament to the new social media and changing political landscape. Internet word of mouth, social sites, blogs now spread the word at lightning speeds. There is also the continued explosion and passion of the Conservative tea party movement afoot, even alive and well here in Massachusetts. There is a fed up, well educated and highly motivated voting base popping up everywhere nationwide.

The question now is can Jim McKenna ride this wave to potentially a bigger upset than Scott Brown’s Massachusetts miracle last January 19, 2010? Somewhere Martha Coakley is taking pause, or more likely not but she really should be.

Via his website http://jimforag.com/about-jim-mckenna.htm

About Jim McKenna
  - Strong record of putting the bad guys away! 
  - Worked as Assistant District Attorney for Suffolk and Worcester County
  - Believes Government must be TRUSTED in order to be effective

Jim worked as a prosecutor for 10 years, gaining perspective and experience by serving in three different offices. He prosecuted public corruption and organized crime in Boston for three years while serving as an Assistant District Attorney in the Organized Crime Division of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office. Jim also served for six years as an Assistant District Attorney in the Worcester County District Attorney’s office, which work included two years as supervisor of the Grand Jury Unit. He began his work as a prosecutor by serving in the Civil Division of the Franklin County [Ohio] Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

In 1998, Jim moved to private practice, but also served as a Special Assistant District Attorney concerning a case on which he had worked while a full-time prosecutor. Specifically, he represented the Commonwealth before the Supreme Judicial Court in support of the first-degree murder conviction of the murderer of Paxton Police Chief Robert Mortell. That conviction was affirmed, as were all others in that case. Commonwealth v. Souza, 428 Mass. 478 (1998). 

Since then, Jim has worked in the private sector, primarily doing civil litigation (insurance defense) on both the trial and appellate levels. During that time, Jim also served a campaign coordinator for Greg White’s Campaign for Worcester County District Attorney in 2002, and as campaign chair for Steve Paige’s campaign for state senate in 2004. Most recently, Jim served as chief legal counsel for Mary Z. Connaughton’s campaign for Auditor.

In addition, for the last 17 years, Jim has taught courses on law and ethics as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the part-time MBA program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Department of Management. Last year, BusinessWeek ranked that program 9th nationally. This year, BusinessWeek ranked that program 1st – with UCLA, UC (Berkeley), Nebraska and Michigan rounding out the top five. 

For the last 5 years, Jim has served on the Board of Trustees of Quinsigamond Community College.