Last modified: Saturday, April 26, 2008 1:08 AM EDT HAND: GOP takes aim at Kerry Defeating an incumbent U.S. senator - especially one who is a former candidate for president - is a tall order. In liberal Massachusetts, the order is even taller when the incumbent is a Democrat who has access to a horde of campaign cash. But two Republicans are willing to take on Sen. John Kerry and his campaign millions. First, the two Republicans have to run against each other and overcome name-recognition and fund-raising disadvantages. One of the GOP candidates, Jim Ogonowski, is a farmer from Dracut who made a creditable, but unsuccessful run for Congress in a special election last fall. Some Republicans wanted Ogonowski to make another run at Niki Tsongas, who he lost to last November, but he decided to take on Kerry instead. The other Republican candidate is Jeff Beatty, a former FBI agent who founded an anti-terrorism-security firm. Both men have military backgrounds that they emphasize on the campaign trail. Ogonowski is a retired lieutenant colonel who served in the Air Force and Air Force Reserve. His brother died in the 9-11 terrorist attack. Beatty said he is a former Delta Force officer who was wounded in the Black Hawk Down episode in Somalia in the 1990's. Beatty also said he has raised $1 million already for his campaign. Either man will be an extreme long shot to beat Kerry, but with the Republican Party struggling to find candidates in Massachusetts, the GOP is happy to have two solid men to take on the challenge. Right wing conspiricy? When did Hillary Clinton become a conservative? All of a sudden the woman who once proposed a government takeover of the medical system and higher taxes on the wealthy is campaigning like a clone of Pat Buchanan. Hillary - who has supported most gun control proposals, including the Brady Bill and assault weapons ban - campaigned in Pennsylvania as a gun-toting defender of the Second Amendment. With a solid record of supporting abortion rights, she has somehow become the religious candidate, mentioning she is a Methodist at every turn. In industrial states like Ohio with high unemployment she has become a fierce opponent of free trade agreements, even though she campaigned for the North American Free Trade Agreement when her husband was president. An on-again, off-again backer of the war in Iraq, she has taken to surrounding herself with military officers on the campaign stump. Any day now you can expect her to demand the U.S. withdraw from the United Nations. Crop of candidates It is starting to look like the fall elections for state Legislature will be lively in the local area. Incumbents like state Sens. Scott Brown, R-Wrentham, and James Timilty, D-Walpole, have opponents while the one open seat locally - the state representative post in Attleboro -has three candidates. JIM HAND covers politics for The Sun Chronicle. His commentaries appear in this space on Saturdays. Contact him at 508-236-0399 or at jhand@thesunchronicle.com.