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ray shamie

ray shamie

raymond shamie -lrb- 1921 -- 1999 -rrb- was an american politician from massachusetts .
raymond `` ray '' shamie was born in brooklyn , new york .
his father died in a traffic accident while he was in high school , and in 1937 , during the great depression , he got a job as a busboy , washing dishes and mopping floors at a horn & hardart automat .
shamie was twice a massachusetts republican nominee for the united states senate , and served as the chairman of the massachusetts republican party from 1987 to 1991 .
ray shamie was the inventor of the innovative `` metal bellows '' , a flexible shaft coupling that is used in aerospace and many other fields , for which he held the patent .
in 1982 , shamie , a millionaire businessman and metalwork entrepreneur -lrb- primarily from the invention of metal bellows -rrb- , challenged longtime incumbent senator ted kennedy .
in a democratic-leaning election cycle , shamie lost in a landslide , receiving 38 percent of the vote against kennedy 's 61 percent .
in 1984 , he announced that he would challenge senator paul tsongas for re-election ; however , tsongas , who had been diagnosed with lymphoma , did not run for re-election .
shamie won the republican primary for the now-open seat , beating former u.s. attorney general and watergate icon elliot richardson .
in the general election , he faced off against massachusetts lieutenant governor john kerry .
shamie lost the senate race to kerry , 55 -- 45 .
shamie strived to maintain a human touch in his politics ; his first campaign 's political slogan was , `` you can call me ray ! ''
after his second bid for the senate , he became the chairman of the massachusetts republican party .
he served in that capacity until 1991 .
he is credited with helping republican william weld win the governorship in 1990 .
