Salty Dog Saloon opens Friday

The much….anticipated Salty Dog Saloon is slotted to open this Friday night.  Should be a raucous weekend in Kelley Square.

The phantom candidate

With so many candidates running unopposed in the primary, it can be a bit hard to gauge public opinion. One very unscientific measurement is the number of blank votes or write-in votes. For example, Congressman Jim McGovern got 9,942 votes, but 11,918 were cast, giving him 83 percent of the total vote. Not all incumbents fared so well though. On the state representative side, Rep. Bob Spellane garnered 1,990 votes out of 2,887 cast (there were 839 blank ballots and 58 write-in votes), giving him 68.9 percent of every ballot cast in his district. That was the worst of any other state rep running unopposed this time around. Rep. John Binienda got 81.2 percent (1,698 of 2,091 ballots); Rep. John Fresolo secured 79.3 percent (2,193 of 2,763); Rep. Vincent Pedone got 78.3 percent (1,468 of 1,874); and Rep. Jim O’Day got 77.8 percent (1,794 of 2,303 votes). Registrar of Probate Stephen Abraham posted similar numbers running uncontested, garnering 76.2 percent of the ballots. Meanwhile, State Sen. Harriette Chandler walked away with 80.1 percent of the vote.