Michael Franco may have quietly entered the race for chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party a couple of weeks ago, but since then he has made a splash by criticizing Jennifer Nassour, the other candidate in the race.

"My opponent Jennifer and I are as different as any two Republicans can be," Franco, of East Longmeadow, recently told PolitickerMA.com in an interview. "I am a grassroots Republican. I'm a bottom up Republican. She appears to be more top down. She's going to get her endorsements from high-profile Republicans who have had decent individual successes like [state Sen.] Scott Brown, my endorsements will come from the grassroots. I get a lot of input each day from the grassroots."

Franco said the Republican Party in Massachusetts "has been steadily failing for years" as a result of "structural weakness and deficiencies that need to be addressed." Franco touted his experience as an officer in the Air Force, as well as his two candidacies for Governor's Council and for state representative in 2002 - all unsuccessful - as qualifying him to lead the party from the grassroots level.

"I'm a leader, a manager, an executive officer, formerly trained by the United States Air Force and a grassroots activist" he said.

Franco sought to paint Nassour as out of touch.

"I am a roll up your sleeves type of guy. She works at a higher level - she goes to the right parties and conventions it seems," he said. "I'm a trench warfare guy and I don't believe she is."

Unsurprisingly, Nassour took exception to that characterization. While she refused to explicitly criticize Franco, choosing instead to stay positive, she pointed out that rebuilding the party from the grassroots level is a basic tenet of her platform.

"I do want to take the party forwards using my strategic plan and in the first sentence I said I want to rebuild the party from the bottom up," she said. "We need to start with the grassroots."

Nassour's plan does, in fact, promote grassroots activism. As PolitickerMA.com reported earlier in December, her plan states: "The party must regain its outspoken voice and spread its message to the grassroots in order to reach all corners of the commonwealth... A traditional strength of the MassGOP [sic] has been articulating Republican values and policies while exposing the weaknesses of Democratic initiatives and actions."

Aside from that distinction, Franco and Nassour appear to be campaigning for the job in similar ways. Nassour said she continues to meet with as many town committee as she has to and plans to "follow through with [her] plan to build from the grassroots up." Franco, similarly, said he is mailing the Republican State Committee information about himself and his plan for the party. He also plans to attend as many Republican events across the state in January.

In particular, Franco said the GOP must first solidify its base.

"For the first two years," he said, "I plan on stabilizing the party and stopping the bleeding because we're continuing the fail. I'm that kind of leader, I'm a hands-on guy. I plan on traveling around the state."

Massachusetts Republicans, Franco said, tend to get excited and rally around one popular figure - like Mitt Romney or the Republican governors before him - then disappear when that pol is gone. Franco would like the GOP to work against that trend.

"We have to form committees," he said. "We have to organize and we have to organize not for any particular candidate but for the organization so it lives on afterwards."

Franco also appears to be peddling a more strict ideology for the party than Nassour. He said the party must stand for "freedom and liberty issues" such as limited government, lower taxes and protecting gun rights. And while not every Republican will share the same views, the party should support an anti-abortion-rights agenda and oppose same-sex marriage.

"I do also believe hat we should be the pro-family Republican party...the party should be pro-life and pro-traditional marriage," he said.