Frank To Meet Republican Bielat in November

Congressman Barney Frank easily won the Democratic primary tonight against challenger Rachel Brown, a first-time candidate who the 14-term incumbent once likened to a dining room table.

Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, will face Republican Sean Beilat of Brookline, a first-time congressional candidate who beat businessmen Earl Sholley of Norfolk.

In Wellesley Frank garnered 84 percent of the vote which appears just a couple percentage points higher than the tally being reported across the district which stretches from Taunton, Fall River and New Bedford to Brookline and Newton.

Frank's Wellesley vote total was 1,661 votes compared to Brown's 296 votes. Bielat received 820 votes in town compared to Sholly's 297. Town Clerk Kathleen Nagle's figures show just 3,282 registered voters, or 20 percent of those eligible went to the polls today, with a total of 2,016 voting in the Democratic primary and 1,266 in the Republican.

Brown, a follower of economist Lyndon LaRouche, decided to run against Frank after a confrontation at one of his town hall sessions in which she asked him a question about the proposed "Nazi policy" of healthcare reform. Frank dismissed the question saying it would be like "arguing with a dining room table."

Frank supported President Obama's economic stimulus package and healthcare bill and  oversaw the drafting and passage of the wall street reforms recently signed by the president which the Congressman says will help prevent future financial crises.

Frank has differed with President Obama on Iraq, however, calling for all the troops to come home, including non-combat personnel. And while he says he strongly supports funding for troops on the ground and to fight terrorism in America, he believes a key to deficit reduction is cutting the military budget by 20 percent and ending America's role as the world's protector.

On the Republican side, Beilat calls himself a conservative and models himself after Ronald Reagan and calls for a more civil dialogue between the two parties in Washington. He has differed with Frank's call for a reduction in military spending and instead supports deficit reduction through "entitlement reform."

The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 2.