GOP struggles to fill out the ticket

[AGENDA21]

The Massachusetts Republican Party's statewide ticket for 2006 is shaping up to be the weakest in memory, a development that would undercut Governor Mitt Romney's much-touted effort to revitalize the party and could weaken its bid to keep control of the governor's office

Just a month before GOP delegates meet in Lowell to endorse a slate, no serious Republican contenders have emerged for two of the most important constitutional positions, attorney general and state treasurer. The party has embraced a politically inexperienced candidate with few financial resources for state auditor and is courting another with few political credentials to run for secretary of state.

Meanwhile, Romney's political focus has moved to national politics and to Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire as he prepares for a possible 2008 presidential run.

Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney's director of communications, acknowledged the governor's political sights are on the national level, particularly as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. He said that Romney continues to help the Massachusetts party raise funds, but that the GOP's heavy losses in the 2004 state legislative races demonstrated the difficulty of turning around the party's fortunes in a heavily Democratic state.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/03/24/gop_struggles_to_fill_out_the_ticket/