Campaign for DA slow to take shape

It's been a low-profile race for a high-profile seat.

But the contest to decide who becomes Middlesex County's top prosecutor is slowly beginning to edge into the limelight.

Three Democrats are actively pursuing the district attorney's seat that Martha Coakley has held since 1999. Coakley, a Medford Democrat, is running to succeed Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, who is a candidate for governor.

Despite its relatively quiet start, the district attorney's race has the potential to be an attention-grabber in the months to come, if for no other reason than the stakes involved.

With about 1.5 million residents, Middlesex County is the state's largest in population. The district attorney heads an office that prosecutes 40,000 cases annually in the district courts and 900 to 1,000 in the superior courts. And in political terms, there is reason to covet the seat. Coakley's two immediate predecessors, Reilly and Scott Harshbarger, went on to become attorney general. Coakley hopes to do the same.

The three Democratic contenders -- state Senator Jarrett T. Barrios, whose district includes Chelsea, Everett, and parts of Saugus and Revere, state Representative Michael E. Festa of Melrose, and former first assistant US attorney Gerald T. Leone Jr. of Hopkinton -- have all been crisscrossing the county the last few months, and each brings strengths to the race.

The Democratic field also included state Representative Peter J. Koutoujian of Waltham, but he bowed out of the race this month.

Another Democrat, Cambridge City Councilor Michael A. Sullivan, said this week that he is continuing to consider entering the race. Sullivan lost a bid for the seat in 1998.

Two Republicans, Jack Carey of Medford and Peter G. Flaherty II of Belmont, also continue to eye the seat. Carey, a trial attorney, ran unsuccessfully for state representative as a Democrat in 2000 and as an Independent last year. Flaherty has been deputy chief of staff to Governor Mitt Romney since 2003, and is a former Suffolk County assistant district attorney.

As the race comes into focus, area residents are starting to take sides.

Barrios supporters include Everett Alderman Stephen ''Stat" Smith. A Democrat, Smith backed Barrios during the latter's first run for the Senate in 2002, and believes he has served Everett well.

''He's made a lot of inroads with people in Everett. People like him; they trust him. He comes to all the events," Smith said of Barrios. ''If you put in a call to his office, he or his staff returns it right away. He's there. He listens."

Malden Democratic City Committee chairman Joseph Lawless is in Festa's corner.

''I think he's experienced, he's proactive, he's energetic," Lawless said. ''And he comes from this Senate district. I've known him a long time."

Kevin Molis, a Malden police sergeant and an independent voter in that city, thinks Leone is right for the job.

Molis said that Leone combines a ''strong prosecutorial background" with a record of working with communities on crime issues.

When it comes to resources, Leone and Barrios appear to have a wide edge on Festa, at least at this point. According to their recent campaign finance reports and the campaigns, Barrios raised $498,877 last year, ending with a balance of $598,621. Leone raised $453,964, ending the year with $379,981. Festa raised $81,265, ending 2005 with $33,746.

But Festa said he has turned the corner lately on the fund-raising front, and now has enlisted former Democratic National Committee chairman Steve Grossman of Newton to help with the effort. He also said his field organization is strong.

A lawyer since 1995, Barrios, 37, is in his second term in the Senate after two terms in the House. The Senate chairman of the Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, he points to his work on public safety issues on Beacon Hill.

''I don't believe voters want a district attorney that waits in the courtroom for crime to happen, and then chooses to prosecute. They want a district attorney who is aggressively working to prevent crime. That's all I've done since I've been elected to the Legislature in 1998," Barrios said.

Most recently, Barrios said, he authored an antigang initiative, which has been approved by both chambers and is expected to soon go to the governor's desk, and recently adopted legislation establishing an $11 million grant program for law enforcement and youth violence prevention.

''I'm pleased that voters care about my proven record of making communities safer," he said.

Leone, 43, was an assistant Middlesex district attorney for eight years, rising to become deputy first assistant. He later spent two years as chief of the Criminal Bureau in the attorney general's office. In early 2002, he joined the US attorney's office in Boston as antiterrorism coordinator for the state, becoming first assistant later that year. He resigned the post last spring.

''I'm running for the right reasons," he said. ''This isn't some political venture; it's the extension of a professional, prosecutorial career."

Leone said he has ''carried out the three primary responsibilities of a district attorney at the highest level of county, state, and federal prosecution agencies." He listed those as serving as a chief prosecuting attorney, managing a large public sector law office, and building and directing programs in partnership with other agencies.

A three-term House member, Festa, 51, is a former Melrose School Committee member and alderman. He has been a lawyer for 27 years, the first two as an assistant Middlesex district attorney and the remainder as a defense lawyer. He points to his combination of skills.

His criminal trial court experience has made him ''professionally well prepared for the job," Festa said. But he said he is also ''someone who has been tested politically and been very active in public policy debates as a public official for more than 30 years.

''This is an office where you need both professional and political skills, and that's what I've got in a very comprehensive and in-depth way," he said.