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In 2010, Republican Sean Bielat gave Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank the toughest re-election challenge the Democrat had ever experienced. Although Bielat’s insurgent Tea Party-backed campaign fell short of unseating Frank, it was obviously a factor in the 16-term congressman’s decision this week to retire at the end of his current term, rather than seek re-election in a newly redrawn district. Thursday night, Bielat spoke to me in a brief telephone interview.Robert Stacy McCain: So, this is the week of ‘Bye Bye Barney.’ How are you feeling right now? Sean Bielat: [Laughs.] Well, you know, if you would have asked me...

Fighting for his political life, a frustrated U.S. Rep. Barney Frank said he was “disappointed” in Sean Bielat’s campaign, saying the surging newcomer has succumbed to the usual right-wing tactics. “I’m disappointed in the campaign,” Frank said while greeting voters in Sharon. “He’s talked very little about the issues and has been a vehicle for an angry right wing.”

BOSTON (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - The Secretary of State William R. Galvin says voter turnout is expected to reach record highs. He's projecting a bigger turnout in districts with highly contested congressional races. So far, Barney Franks' district has one of highest turnouts ion the state. In Newton and North Attleboro, the lines were forming before the polls opened and the flow has been steady all day. People we spoke to say they're coming out to vote on tax issues. The questions on the ballot were important to them. Some wanted to vote against the incumbent others felt it...

Wall Street Reform Architect Frank Fights for SurvivalBy Reuters November 01, 2010 BOSTON - Representative Barney Frank, the outspoken, witty Democrat closely tied to the 2008 U.S. bank bailout, faces a tough re-election battle after 15 terms in office at a time when incumbency itself is a liability. Challenging the Massachusetts liberal is Republican Sean Bielat, a former U.S. marine, and opinion polls suggest Frank has an uncomfortably narrow lead over a political unknown. In the run-up to Tuesday's congressional elections, Frank has faced a torrent of negative ads and mailings, much of it from groups outside the state who...

Is Barney Frank worried? “Not to be condescending, but let me give you a little tip,” he tells National Review Online outside a convention hall on Massachusetts’ south coast. “Never ask a candidate if he’s confident he’s going to win: because the answer will always be ‘yes.’” Indeed, Frank is still the clear favorite in Massachusetts’s 4th congressional district. But even as he speaks, it has come out that he’s lent his campaign two hundred grand from his own pocket, and reporters are nagging him about a bizarre — and for a 30-year incumbent, wildly undisciplined — incident in which...

The last two major polls of the race had him trailing by a dozen, but last night on Hannity’s show he teased the fact that his internal numbers are showing things to be much tighter. And now, lo and behold, a Bielat campaign memo claiming that he’s within the margin of error has been leaked to Fleming and Hayes. I don’t normally link internal polls — as Ace says, you’re never sure how representative the leaked data is — but apart from the Nevada Senate seat, there’s no race in the country that conservatives more urgently want to win than...

BOSTON (Reuters) – Representative Barney Frank, the outspoken, witty Democrat closely tied to the 2008 U.S. bank bailout, faces a tough re-election battle after 15 terms in office at a time when incumbency itself is a liability. Challenging the Massachusetts liberal is Republican Sean Bielat, an Iraq war veteran, and opinion polls suggest Frank has an uncomfortably narrow lead over a political unknown. In the run-up to Tuesday's congressional elections, Frank has faced a torrent of negative ads and mailings, much of it from groups outside the state who support candidates from the conservative Tea Party movement. Last week, Frank...

The Obama administration's foreclosure-prevention effort has been ineffective in tackling the foreclosure crisis, the watchdog for the federal bank bailouts said Monday. Neil Barofsky said Treasury officials are falsely claiming that the program has helped more than 1.3 million homeowners, even though fewer than half of them have received permanent changes to their mortgages through the government's plan. Barofsky, the inspector general for the $700 billion Wall Street rescue, said Treasury claims it has "helped" everyone who entered the program -- even those who later fell out. The administration "is either hopelessly out of touch, or it's really a cynical...

Call this good news/bad news for Barney Frank in his fight to hold onto his job in Massachusetts’ 4th CD. The Boston Globe reports that Frank has a 13-point lead — but only gets 46% of the vote in a two-way race, 46-33. With a week to go before voting, Frank’s inability to get a majority may reveal a serious problem, and the Globe notes that enthusiasm may be that problem (via Jim Geraghty): US Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Newton, leads his Republican challenger, Sean Bielat, by 13 percentage points among likely voters in the Fourth Congressional District. In...

Sean Bielat’s suddenly energized campaign to unseat Barney Frank has not only gone national ... it’s gone viral. The GOP maverick and former Marine has launched a YouTube offensive with campaign videos that are clicking with the ’Net crowd. The most popular of the bunch is the “The Barney Shuffle,” a mash-up of quotes from Frank about the economic collapse as the Newton Democrat dances (disco balls twirling in the halls of Congress) while rapping “this is not the dot.com collapse ... it’s a bubble ... a bubble ... can I finish my sentence.”

GOP challenger Sean Bielat slammed U.S. Rep. Barney Frank yesterday for grabbing more than $40,000 in campaign cash from banks that received federal bailouts — despite the congressman’s own pledge to refuse that dough. “The rules never apply to Barney — even Barney’s own rules,” said Bielat, whose surging campaign prompted Frank to pump $200,000 of his own cash into his run. The Herald reported yesterday that Frank accepted $40,000 from bank executives and other special interests that cashed in on the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

Not a disastrous poll — there are still 12 percent undecided — but after news broke about Frank having to loan himself money, I was hoping/thinking it’d be within single digits. Not yet, and time’s running out: “Barney Frank is holding a 12-point lead, and in a tough election year for Democrats that’s a comfortable lead going into the final two weeks of the election,” Eyewitness News political analyst Joe Fleming said. “It all depends on if Sean Bielat can grab some momentum to close that gap.”…Both men are doing well among members of their respective parties, with Frank backed...

Fantastic video! See Barney "dance" around the issues. The only thing which would make this video better would be photoshopping a tutu on that "happy kind of guy" Barney. Video by the Sean Bielat campaign....follow the link....

This debate with be livestreamed at www.wickedlocal.com

  A liberal financier at the center of two congressional ethics controversies may also be involved in some questionable business dealings, according to the New York Times. S. Donald Sussman, a billionaire hedge-fund titan, made news after his fiancé, Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME), was accused of traveling on his private jet to campaign events.Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) has also been scrutinized for traveling to Sussman's Virgin Islands mansion on the billionaire's plane. Republicans have said the trip had the appearance of impropriety, since Frank serves as chair of the House Finance Committee and a company owned by Sussman has...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fannie Mae (OTC BB:FNMA.OB - News) and Freddie Mac (OTC BB:FMCC.OB - News) may need as much as $215 billion in additional capital from the Treasury through 2013 to offset losses and maintain a positive net worth, their federal regulator said on Thursday. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose programs fund the lion's share of all new home loans, are at the center of debate as Congress sets to overhaul a U.S. mortgage finance system that contributed to the worst housing crisis since the 1930s. The cumulative capital needs of the two housing finance giants, which...

Here are some more great commonsense candidates whose races we need to support as we approach November 2nd.   Butch Otter for Governor of Idaho  As a proud Vandal grad who was born in Idaho and still has plenty of Idaho family roots, I'm honored to endorse Butch Otter for governor of the Gem State. Whether serving in Congress or the Governor’s office, Butch has been a voice for commonsense conservatism. He’s been a strong advocate for fiscal discipline and energy independence. As Governor of Alaska, it was a pleasure working with Butch as both our states bucked a growing...

Rep. Barney Frank (D.-Mass.) is so freaked out over his boyfriend’s behavior and his own election troubles that he’s attempting to be nice to people, according to a columnist at the very liberal Boston Globe. When Frank’s boyfriend Jim Ready was caught on tape heckling Frank’s Republican challenger Sean Bielat, Globe columnist Brian McGrory reports he phoned the liberal icon to ask if he condoned Ready’s behavior. (h/t Ace of Spades) From the Globe report: When I called Frank yesterday to ask if he condones his partner goading and mocking an opponent, he told me that “Jimmy’’ is a talented...

A closer-than-expected election battle between Democratic Congressman Barney Frank and upstart challenger Sean Bielat turned into a turf war last month when the candidates out-fundraised each other in their respective hometowns. Documents filed with the Federal Elections Commission show that in September, the Republican Bielat outraised Frank in the congressman’s hometown of Newton, $31,249 to $13,785.

Via Fleming and Hayes, who say two eyewitnesses at the scene recognized this guy as Frank’s boyfriend. Bielat’s campaign recognized him too and confirmed his identity when asked by Brian Faughnan. Three possibilities for why the BF would do something this lame and embarrassing: (1) The Frank campaign is increasingly nervous about the challenge from Bielat, especially considering that Bielat outraised him last quarter. (2) The Frank campaign is prone to abrasive jackass behavior, mainly because it is, after all, run by Barney Frank. As Gay Patriot says, “You just can’t talk about this guy without laughing at his hypocrisy...