One of Boston’s biggest sports heroes is mulling running for Ted Kennedy’s vacant Senate seat:
Curt Schilling, the former Boston Red Sox pitcher who helped lead the team to World Series titles in 2004 and 2007, indicated on Wednesday that he was considering running for the Senate seat from Massachusetts formerly held by the late Edward M. Kennedy.
Mr. Schilling, an at-times outspoken conservative who campaigned for both George W. Bush and Senator John McCain in recent presidential elections, wrote on his blog that “I do have some interest in the possibility,” while also saying that his family and his video game company, 38 Studios, were priorities.
“To get to there from where I am today, many many things would have to align themselves for that to truly happen,” added Mr. Schilling, who won his first World Series with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001. “I am not going to comment further on the matter since at this point it would be speculation on top of speculation.”
Schilling, of course, is a Republican and it just doesn’t seem like even his status in Red Sox lore would be enough to overcome Massachusetts’ historical antipathy to Republicans, especially ones as conservative as he apparently is.
You can read Schillings blog post for yourself here.
Update: It turns out that Schilling may not be eligible to run as a Republican:
Schilling, who has enthusiastically campaigned for former President Bush and John McCain in past presidential elections, has said that he’s a registered Independent voter. Massachusetts election law requires that anyone seeking a party nomination to be enrolled with the party for at least 90 days before the Nov. 3 deadline for filing nomination papers with the state Elections Division.
That doesn’t give Schilling enough time to run as a Republican – only as an independent candidate for office. And reading into the NECN interview, it didn’t sound like he was all that serious about running but surely liked to see his name out there in print.
Well, it’s not like he ever really had a chance to win anyway.
