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HIGH AMBITION
Is Jarrett Barrios eyeing a run for Congress?
BY SETH GITELL

Jarrett Barrios, the new state senator from Cambridge, is a man in a hurry. But how much of a hurry? In Cambridge-Somerville political circles, many speculate that Barrios might decide to challenge incumbent congressman Michael Capuano for the storied Eighth Congressional District seat, whose prior occupants include John F. Kennedy, Thomas P. " Tip " O’Neill, and Joseph Kennedy. Capuano, a former Somerville mayor, was elected in 1998. " If [Barrios] waits for years, Mike only gets stronger, " says one close observer of the district. " There’s a time when you say, ‘What am I waiting for?’ There’s no guarantee it’s going to get better. "

Barrios is fresh from his victory over Cambridge city councilor Anthony Galluccio in a hotly contested race to fill the state-Senate seat vacated by former Senate president Tom Birmingham, and some think he may strike while the iron is hot. Capuano won 18,874 votes in the 1998 primary against a slew of rivals, including former Boston mayor Ray Flynn, former Brighton state representative Susan Tracy, former state senator Marjorie Claprood, and a host of others. Barrios won 11,521 votes in his race against Galluccio and Everett alderman Carlo DiMaria.

The argument for a candidacy by Barrios, a favorite of progressives, is that he could run at Capuano from the left by cobbling together a base of progressive and Latino supporters. However, he would face an opponent who is both an incumbent and someone who has compiled a fairly progressive voting record in his own right. Unlike Congressman Stephen Lynch of South Boston, Capuano voted against using military action pre-emptively against Iraq. In his most recent term, he voted 95 percent of the time in agreement with the position of Americans for Democratic Action; 93 percent of the time in agreement with the position of the American Civil Liberties Union; and 89 percent of the time in agreement with the position of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.

Reached for comment on a potential 2004 run, Barrios was eager to shoot down the speculative chatter — going so far as to decline to use verbs in his quote in order to connote the least action possible. " Not interested. Not now. No way. Just elected. Work hard. My district. My district, " said the normally loquacious pol. Barrios’s supporters privately insist that their candidate is aware that taking on an incumbent is a daunting challenge. In the meantime, Barrios will chair the public-safety committee in the Senate and serve as vice-chair on the health-care committee.

As for Capuano, his spokesperson, Alison Mills, would say only that " Congressman Capuano is focused on doing his job at the moment. "

We can be certain that if he’s still serving as a state senator when and if Capuano retires, Barrios will be a likely candidate to take his place.

Issue Date: January 23 - 30, 2003
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