There were three winners in the Democratic primary for a state senate seat from the 2nd Middlesex District. Rep. Pat Jehlen, (D-Somerville) who won the primary; the organized democratic progressive movement in the state, and the growing network of MA political bloggers who covered the race and helped generate interest in a special election in the dog days of August.

Voter turnout was higher than expected. This is partly attributable to the coordinated get out the vote efforts of allied organizations backing Jehlen. Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts (PDM) along with a long list of progressive and labor organizations in the state endorsed Jehlen, as well as numerous current and former state legislators, and former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. PDM organized fundraisers and deployed activists into the district to help in this important, and likely-to-be-low-turnout summer special election.

Turnout may also have been stimulated by the growing coverage of electoral campaigns and candidates by the growing network of MA political blogs — notably, .08 Acres (and a Donkey), Blue Mass Group and Left in Lowell — helping to create a spirited democratic political culture in which people become more knowledgeable; have access to more sources of information — such as being able to easily find candidate web sites and relevant newspaper articles and editorials. Blue Mass Group even issued a candidate questionnaire, to which Jehlen and former state Rep. Joe Mackey (who came in second) responded. In this race, Blue Mass Group provided comprehensive coverage. They and the others will undoubtedly will have great postmortems, with links to the best of the blog and media coverage.

The special election is to replace the late Sen. Charlie Shannon. Jehlen will face the Republican candidate Somerville Alderman Bill White on September 27 in this heavily Democratic district.

UPDATE & Correction! Commenter Ron Newman reports “Pat Jehlen will face Bill White in the September 27 special election - NOT in November….(as I had previously reported. that error is now corrected.) “Adding to the confusion,” he reports, “there is a Somerville city election on November 8, and a Somerville Ward 3-only preliminary election on September 13.”

Thanks, Ron. Its important to get this stuff right!