Gerry Leone just last night announced his intention not to seek re-election as Middlesex District Attorney in the 2014 state election and already the Twitter universe is abuzz with speculation about possible candidates to succeed him. I decided to jump into the pool, so here goes:

State Senator Eileen Donoghue of Lowell would certainly be a strong candidate if she is interested. Her legal background is in criminal law, she did well in the 2007 Congressional race so has name recognition beyond her Senate District and Greater Lowell and would have the ability to be very competitive in fund raising. If she were the only woman in a field of men and the only candidate from the northern part of the county, she’d have a good shot at winning. Another name that immediately comes to mind is Michael Sullivan. He finished second to Martha Coakley for the DA’s job back in 1998 but has since won election county-wide as Clerk of Courts. He just won re-election to a new term in that office this past November so he would not have to give up his seat to run for DA in 2014. Two others who also come to mind are State Rep David Linsky who is a former Asst DA and who I believe has previously been interested in the job and Charlie Murphy, the former state rep from Burlington who also sought the office very briefly at some point before opting back into his state rep race. Peter Koutoujian would also be a possibility. He’s a former Asst DA and has run county-wide for sheriff. He was just on the ballot this year for the balance of the unexpired term to which Jim DiPaola was elected in 2010. The sheriff’s office will be on the ballot again in 2016 so Peter could run for DA without giving up the sheriff’s office. But I’m not sure he’d be interested in leaving the sheriff’s office.

That’s all that come to me off the top of my head; fortunately, all would make great DAs. Do any other names come to mind?