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Son power

E-mail|Link|Comments () October 21, 2009 05:38 PM

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

In many ways, US Representative Michael Capuano and former governor Mitt Romney are like night and day.

One wears crisp business suits (Romney); the other is notorious for donning short-sleeved shirts with his ties (Capuano). One is an unabashed liberal (Capuano); the other proudly broadcasts his conservatism to a national audience (Romney). One of them (Romney) has hair fit for a television commercial; the other one (Capuano), well, not so much.

But there’s one thing that both politicians believe in: using your sons to pitch in on the campaign trail.

During his presidential race, Romney’s five adult children started a blog, Five Brothers, on which they pitched their dad's campaign message and shared intimate insights, such as their love of the Red Sox, Billy Joel, and “Saturday Night Live.”

Capuano’s US Senate campaign recently launched a blog, and his two sons have begun posting updates from the trail.

“My name is Mike Capuano (no – not that one! I’m his son, named for the original Michael Capuano, my great-grandfather),” wrote one of the sons, Mike.

Another post, on Columbus Day, read: “My name is Joe Capuano, and my father is running for U.S. Senate. I will be posting some updates from the campaign as I see it, in order to highlight this race from a totally different perspective, that you most certainly won't read anywhere else.”

Those wanting to know their favorite band, sports teams, or television shows, may have to look elsewhere. Most of the Capuano Children’s posts so far have been about the joys and challenges of finding volunteers. Joe Capuano told of a tale of meeting an Attleboro City Council candidate who had been supporting someone else, before spending 10 minutes with Mike Capuano.

“Needless to say,” he wrote, “he is now supporting my father.”

He continued, “He really does care about everyone's issues and concerns knowing full well that they all differ; and is willing to do whatever is in his power to help. He has never and will never change if elected to the Senate.”