A cordial race for three Democrats
Contenders hope to take House seat from GOP
The three Democrats vying for the open First Bristol House seat serve together on the Foxborough Democratic Committee. They agree on most major issues and have avoided criticizing each other in the campaign.
``I know them both very well," candidate Matthew J. Donovan said of his opponents in the Sept. 19 primary, Paul R. Feeney and Claire B. Naughton. ``We all are on the town committee. It's been a pretty cordial campaign."
State Democratic leaders hope the collegiality among the contenders for the open House of Representatives seat will boost the party's chances of winning a seat that has been in Republican hands ever since the district was created in 1992.
The three activists, none of whom has held elective public office before, have pledged to support whichever one of them wins the primary.
On Nov. 7, the winner will face Frederick J. Barrows, a Mansfield businessman and local political and community activist, who is unopposed in the Republican primary.
``This absolutely is a seat that should be Democratic," said Cyndi Roy, spokeswoman for the state Democratic Party.
Republican Virginia Coppola of Foxborough, who won the office in a special election Feb. 7, is not seeking reelection. She is the widow of Michael Coppola, who served three terms in the post before his death in August 2005.
Naughton, 61, who lost to Virginia Coppola in the special election, has been campaigning for the seat almost continuously since late last year. A retired teacher, Naughton paused her campaign only briefly after the February contest, in which she carried 45 percent of the vote to Coppola's 55 percent.
Feeney, 28, a former chief of staff for Democratic state Senator James Timilty of Walpole, launched his campaign in April. Donovan, 47, a customer service employee for Shaw's Supermarket in Attleboro, said last week that he has not started campaigning but is planning to do so soon.
The district is made up of all of Foxborough, half of Mansfield, and three of the five precincts in Norton.
Foxborough is the largest part of the district, and the three representatives who have held the seat since 1992 all have been from that town.
This year's three primary contenders -- who are also all from Foxborough -- hold what are usually classified as liberal positions. They support abortion rights, oppose the death penalty, and are against a proposed state constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage.
All say delivering more aid to the district's towns and school systems would be their top priority.
The main point of contention among them is their position on a possible rollback of the state income tax from 5.3 percent to 5 percent. Feeney and Donovan say they support the rollback, and Naughton opposes it.
Feeney said taxpayers are strapped and need a break. ``I think the state can afford it now," he said.
Naughton said state and local governments have neglected basic needs for too long and a tax cut now would be unwise.
``We have so many expenses in this state that have not been taken care of for many, many years because we didn't have the money," she said.
Donovan said he believes the state's finances have improved sufficiently in the past couple of years, and ``I think we can afford to put the rollback through."
Feeney and Naughton have been campaigning hard in recent weeks, going door-to-door, sending out campaign literature, and running phone banks. They have a considerable head start over Donovan. Said Naughton, ``Paul and I are the ones whose names are out there."
There have been no debates or candidate forums in advance of the primary. Feeney, a
Naughton has been endorsed by more than a dozen groups, including the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the National Organization for Women, and the Sierra Club's Massachusetts chapter.
Robert Preer can be reached at preer@globe.com. 
