Beginning in 2006, Jeff Beatty knew he wanted to run for one of Massachusetts' seats in Washington, but, he said, the questions were which one and when.  

[img_assist|nid=168|title=Jeff Beatty (R-Harwich)|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=99|height=180]In this third and final segment of a sit down interview with PolitickerMA.com, Beatty reflects on his political education, namely what tricks he picked up from his 2006 challenge to U.S. Rep. Bill Delahunt and what he learned from Ed O'Reilly, the Democrat who challenged U.S. Sen. John Kerry in this year's primary. He explains why he decided to challenge Kerry and how he intends to beat the 24-year incumbent.

"I want voters on Nov. 4 to go in and ask themselves these questions: ‘Who do I trust to make a correct decision and also to make that decision for the right reasons? Who do I trust to make a decision that is putting my interest first, not their own? What combination of dissatisfaction or distrust of Kerry along with an appreciation of the relevant experience that Beatty brings to bear, where's the mix?'" Beatty said. "And we'll get an answer on Nov. 4. I am convinced that if people ask themselves those questions, we're going to win the election."

In the spring of 2006, Beatty said he walked into the offices of the Massachusetts GOP and said he wanted to run for office in the Bay state because he was "disappointed for what passed for representation in Massachusetts."

As it happened, Peter Blute, the former Republican Congressman from Worcester, was in the office and was immediately impressed by Beatty's resume, Beatty said. "Holy crow," Beatty remembers Blute saying. "With those credentials you're an instant senator in any other state but Massachusetts."

The GOP, Beatty said, immediately suggested he challenged Edward Kennedy that year, but Beatty wasn't biting because there were only six months left before Election Day. Beatty also said he has great respect for the Hyannis Port Democrat's work ethic, so he didn't want to challenge him. The party, however, insisted Beatty run in 2006 because "no one wins their first race," Beatty said.

So, Beatty challenged Delahunt, the popular Quincy Democrat, in the 10th Congressional District. It was a race the Beatty would eventually lose by 35 points.

But, Beatty said, he was always looking ahead.

"That was a set up race," Beatty said. "That was ‘learn your lessons.' And we learned them. We learned you don't start a campaign with six months to go. We learned a lot about building a grassroots organization and new we have 4,000 volunteers. And we learned about that you have to build a grassroots fundraising organizations and now we have about 40,000 individual contributions."

Beatty said he was always "toying" with the idea of challenging Kerry this year but his experience with the family of a soldier that was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq that year ultimately motivated him to run.

Beatty heard about the death of the Sgt. Marc Vecchione and contacted his mother, Cindy Des Lauriers, because she lived two towns over from him. He and a few other veterans, he said, helped pick up the soldier's family and friends from the airport and drove them to the funeral.

"I saw the complete devastation of this family by the loss of their son," Beatty said. "And that troubled me."

Beatty said he stayed in touch with the woman and had a revelation of sorts at a Christmas party that year.

"This is ridiculous. This woman's life is destroyed," Beatty recalled thinking.

"And I went back to Kerry's decision to vote for the war," he said. "How can you not take into consideration that when you authorize war, there are going to be people killed? There are going to be people injured. He destroyed this women's life so that he could get elected president. Totally unacceptable. That was really the call to action for me."

The Kerry campaign declined to comment for this story.

So Beatty said he started the process of putting together a Senate campaign. In the spring of 2007 he began an "exploratory phase" to make sure he had a chance at beating Kerry before he officially entered the race.

"There is no sense launching a campaign if it's not winnable," he said. "We determined at the end of that that we think we are going to be able to get enough support so that we'll be able to run a full campaign and win."

The Republican said he is pleased with the way his campaign is currently coming together and said that he planned to open four or five more campaign offices around the state last week and anticipates having between five and 10 up and running before Election Day.

Beatty also said he learned from Ed O'Reilly's primary challenge to Kerry.

"I think Ed O'Reilly is a man of integrity and I think that integrity was effective" against Kerry, Beatty said.

But, Beatty added, O'Reilly only campaigned on the war which isn't as effective coming from him and isn't as effective in a Democratic primary.

"What Ed O'Reilly did was spend a lot of time talking about the war, and I don't think that's enough," Beatty said. "For me, it's enough. For the general electorate it might have been enough but in the Democratic primary, it wasn't enough."

In the end, Beatty said he has learned that the most important aspect of campaigning is to be genuine. He said he doesn't listen "to too much political advice" and tries to be himself.

"Because the people are either going to want you or they're not," he said. "If they don't want you, you can look yourself in the mirror and say, ‘I showed them everything I possibly could about what motivates me and if they chose to go with someone else then OK, at least I gave it my all."

Editor's Note: This is the third story based on a lengthy sit down interview with Mr. Beatty. Click here for the first story, which details his military career. And click here for the second, on his time in as a counterterrorism CIA agent and consultant.