Props to Patrick

I don't think "embrace" is the right word (0.00 / 0)

I still think it's an anti-something else vote.  I don't know very many in my town, admittedly a suburb, who are ardently for Patrick. The number of Patrick signs could have been counted on one hand.  But he still won the town.  

I do know that there is a very strong distrust of the Tea Party - usually along the lines of media caricatures rather than just recognizing it as a group in favor of more limited government.  I think that ultimately was a huge help to him.

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by: mc @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 11:03:37 AM UTC

Maybe they were anti-yard signs (0.00 / 0)

Yeah, it was a distrust of the tea party, and a disgust at people putting Republican yard signs in their town.  My mom emailed me her her final decisions on the questions, which were opposite mine, and they seemed all based on being aghast at Tea Partiers than anything else:

I think that a Yes on the lowering the sales tax supports the anti-government movement, and I would not want to be allied with that.  And I would never never depend on our State Legislators to override the referendum.  Certainly not quickly enough.

I'm voting No on repealing 40B.  I don't want to ally myself with the Yes vote people --  not when town governments are doing a bad job of zoning anyway.

I think she just thinks the Tea Party dresses badly and has cheap and tawdry values.

     

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by: John Howard @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 16:54:13 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

We elected a Republican Governor last night... (0.00 / 0)

Just we elected him or her to State Rep.  The newbies elected last night reflect the future of the party, and continuing to build through local elections -- which are decided on candidate quality and campaign quality instead of overriding ideological issues -- is the way to go.

Regarding Patrick: Given that Mary Connaughton -- who was endorsed by EVERY SINGLE PAPER in the Commonwealth -- lost to a political hack with questionable ethics (double dipping on tax breaks), I don't know what else to think other than the fact that this state is just structurally Democratic and there's little hope.

I do think Patrick's empathy goes a long way with voters.  Charlie, as smart as he is, wasn't able to connect.

I think part of the problem is Massachusetts Republicans keep running 1994, instead of looking back to 1990.  Weld creamed Roosevelt in '94 on Crime, Taxes, and Welfare.  So some republicans think being a tax cutter and tough of crime makes you win.  The lesson of '94 (and '98 and '02) is that incumbancy plus okay economy equals win.

The real lesson is 1990.  Weld won because he was the "nice" candidate.  He wasn't Crazy John "when you're old and ripe it's time to go" Silber.  He was going to run things well, but mostly people felt like they could trust him.

Charlie's campaign spend a lot of time blasting the other guys (and as much as Charlie's people would like to run from the RGA ads they can't) and not enough time telling people who Charlie was and what he was going to do.

And, of course -- if Suzanne "I can't decide where I really live" Bump can beat Mary Z after Mary was endorsed by every single real newspaper in the Commonwealth, well, there may be no hope in the short term.

That's why I'm ecstatic that we picked up all those House seats.  That's the future of the party; build local candidates who can introduce themselves -- and by extension, republicanism -- over time and let people get back in the habit of voting for republican candidates.

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by: WeldforPrez @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 11:18:51 AM UTC

And Deval PAtrick is no Mark Roosevelt... (0.00 / 0)

Yr. Obedient Servant, Peter Porcupine, Republican

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by: Peter Porcupine @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 14:20:04 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Huge (0.00 / 0)

A huge victory for the unions in MA. The MA GOP runs the last election. Look for Scott Brown to move further to the Left.

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by: kingsmill @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 11:31:43 AM UTC

Oh... and.... (0.00 / 0)

Is it time to put Tim O'Brien into the Witless Protection Program?

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by: WeldforPrez @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 11:54:03 AM UTC

Understand ... (5.00 / 2)

What is there to understand? Take it at face value. We live in a state where people are raised from cradle to grave to "play the system" for what they can. And behold the result ..
I think the whole spectacle can be summarized by the plight of Councleman Turner who, following his corruption convictions, asks for and gets "his people" to write the judge begging for leniency so that he can continue to "serve" them as he has.
If you want to understand Massachusetts poltics follow the ballot questions.
Using Suffolk, the poll that turned out most accurate, 3 weeks ago Q1 was losing by @15% and Q3 was a draw. I thought this seemed to be an odd disconnect at the time but what happened following this poll was the tell.
The TV ads started running ...
For Q1 we got the simplistic but effective toll barrier camapign from the pro-1s (without opposition) and on Q3 we got the constant unopposed barrage from the calamity alarmists.
And did the public repsond?
How could you interpret Q1 going +20% in the same time frame Q3 goes -15% any other way than the following:
People in the commonwealth are spoon fed their current events in 30 second snippets during snack breaks of "dancing with the stars".
What you are asking is, how can I make my dog behave more rationaly around the food bowl during feeding time. Uhh .. who knows and why do we care?

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by: nomad943 @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 12:05:43 PM UTC

Weak sauce (5.00 / 1)

"We live in a state where people are raised from cradle to grave to "play the system" for what they can. And behold the result"

Republicans CAN win the Governor's office in Massachusetts, we've seen it happen before. Blaming some nebulous welfare mentality for Patrick's victory is lame. Baker's campaign blew this race by primarily focusing on destroying Cahill, to the benefit of Patrick. People who truly hated Patrick assumed that "Patrick stinks" was a sufficient platform to get Baker elected. They were wrong.

Tim O'Brien should never run another Republican gubernatorial race in the Commonwealth.

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by: Venicemenace @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 13:46:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Who is Rationalizing? (0.00 / 0)

The theory goes that when 50.1% of the population becomes dependant upon government for their daily bread than lookout ..
I beleive that threashold has been reached here in the commonwealth.
From time to time you may catch them asleep but the fact is, when the usual suspects are told that if they dont act now then noone is going to refill the gravy bowl, they will get out and march to the polls.  

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by: nomad943 @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 13:54:56 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I disagree (0.00 / 0)

For that to be a theory you need some actual facts to back it up, but I don't see anything in your post except scorn for the voters of Massachusetts. If I'm not mistaken, the purpose of a Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign is to get a majority of the voters in this state to support your candidate. This wasn't a problem for Weld, Cellucci and Romney. "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves." Mass. voters WILL support a quality Republican campaign if it is run properly.

The Baker campaign assumed that (a) Cahill's voters were all persuadable, potential Baker voters and (b) slamming Patrick and repeating "lower taxes" would be sufficient to win. They were wrong on both counts. Baker is a much better candidate than Healy but the result wasn't much different...I blame the common manager of the two campaigns, the involvement of the national GOP in this race (the impact of their ads only helped Deval), and a failure by Baker to define himself as opposed to tearing other candidates down.

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by: Venicemenace @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 15:13:10 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Baker's concession speech was really good (0.00 / 0)

If he had been allowed to give speeches like that before, the outcome might have been different.

I'm still shaking my head BUMP - BUMP got in. Even members of the BMG weren't very supportive.

I'm hoping Baker comes back and runs again. By the point our sales and income taxes will be at 10% and the voters will have had enough.

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by: roarkarchitect @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 15:31:40 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I won't congratulate Deval - I think he cheated.... (0.00 / 0)

We are headed for a 'Fiscal Cliff' and the country just elected a dope whose motto is 'Forward'.  

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by: Vote3rdpartynow @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 12:08:53 PM UTC

Deval Patrick is the Best Campaigner I ever saw--- (0.00 / 0)

next to Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.  He has a tough time governing---but campaigning he's as good as there is.
that ground game Rubin puts together is first rate.  He was at less than 30 last year.  Give him credit for coming back from the dead.

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by: christy2010 @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 14:09:18 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

That's the distinction we fail to make. (0.00 / 0)

As I've said ad infinitum, politics and governing are different skills.  Patrick has the first, Baker had the second.

But instead of playing up his actual skills, he tried to pretend he had the first.  Mary Z. came closest to making that distinction - I'm an auditor, not an entertainer - and would have won had there not been the panic on the Dem side and the GOTV.

Yr. Obedient Servant, Peter Porcupine, Republican

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by: Peter Porcupine @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 14:17:58 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Election Post-mortem (0.00 / 0)

Got to give Patrick credit. He pretty much maintained local aid and Chapter 70 money to cities and towns. He tackled with some success issues Republican governors tried in vain. Pension reform, Quinn bill, police details, re-org transportation dept..

Baker ran as a Scott Brown republican, he should have run as a Weld republican.

As to the rest of the slate, Mass. has "D" in the blood. I remember my grandmother having a framed portrait of JFK next to the Pope. What else do you need to know.

Shocked at Mary Zs loss. Bump is a hack. Two primary residences HA! If the tables were turned and Mary Z claimed that she would have lost by 20%

Karyn Polito. Give away a few license plates and that disqualifies you? Why half the legilature would be disqualified, oh I forgot they are dems!!! Grossman will turn the treasurer's office into a fund raising arm of the democratic party!

Yet scum bags like Rep Petrolati in Ludlow will go on their merry way now that the dems are in full control.

Let's not forget the union thugs. They GOTV all right. Got to save cousin Vinny's pension from the big bad republicans!!!

This does not bode well for Scott Brown in 2012.

Mark McGwire "I'm not here to talk about the past"

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by: djquinby @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 13:05:03 PM UTC

Isn't that backwards? (4.00 / 1)

Baker ran as a Scott Brown republican, he should have run as a Weld republican.

I had the opposite impression.  Baker ran as a Weld republican (gung ho on privatization, ridiculous anti-government anti-public rhetoric, pro-gay, screw the so-cons), Brown ran as a realist on government and compassionate to the public, was known to be pro-marriage (though he successfully avoided anti-gay rhetoric during the campaign, and never threw the so-cons under the bus).

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by: John Howard @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 17:07:08 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Might be backwards! (0.00 / 0)

Baker confused me throughout, in person I though he came across as a Weld R, in the media ha looked like he wanted to be a Tea Party member. To a non-committed voter this looked confusing. Needed to stay on message. I understand a lot of So-cons weren't to happy with Baker, but I am not convinved that a pro-life, pro-hetero marriage Gov. could be elected in this state.

Interesting point about Brown not throwing so-cons under the bus and I guess Baker did by ignoring them. In retrospect Tisei was a bad choice for Lt. Gov. He brought nothing to the table.

Mark McGwire "I'm not here to talk about the past"

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by: djquinby @ Thu Nov 04, 2010 at 19:55:21 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Profoundly conservative (0.00 / 0)

That's my take, anyway. I read an adage in a Wm F Buckley column decades ago, as the summary of conservatism: When it's not necessary to change, it's necessary not to change.

In Massachusetts we looked around and said, well, the economy's bad, but it's bad everywhere, and somewhat less-bad here than other places, so why rock the boat. Was it necessary to change? About 40 percent of voters thought so, but the majority didn't - or stayed home, so their opinions don't count, at least with me.

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by: afgvet @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 13:53:42 PM UTC

Could it be that simple? (0.00 / 0)

The voters of this state turned out strongly to endorse the status quo.

Isn't turnout typically low when voters are satisfied?

Stock up on pudding

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by: fluffy @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 14:13:33 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Dunno (0.00 / 0)

Clearly I'm not being rigorously scientific - and, to be clear here, I pulled GOP from top to bottom, on principle - but Massachusetts is an educated and media-rich environment. Voters in Massachusetts followed the national trends and turned out to say: nope, we like what we've got, we don't want our boat rocked.

Can I just add, off-topic, that I thought Barney Frank's victory comments were profoundly ungracious and unbecoming? I thought Bielat ran a fairly clean, thoughtful and issues-focused campaign, when he could easily have whaled on Frank for his past - let's call them "ethical lapses" - the way Keating did to Perry on the South Shore. Frank's history lesson on gerrymandering - the Republicans created this district 50 years ago, so there - may be accurate, but it smacked of: Oh yeah, well, your grandfather called my grandmother a donkey ...

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by: afgvet @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 14:35:32 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

More than ungracious. (0.00 / 0)

Frank compared Bielat to Hitler.

Proving yet again that he not lacks good judgment, but that he is ill-mannered and pompous.

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by: geo999 @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 15:01:33 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

*not only* (0.00 / 0)

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by: geo999 @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 15:02:10 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

When you are 70 years old you can say what ever the heck you want. (0.00 / 0)

Molon Labe

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by: Republican Ram Rod Radio @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 15:15:30 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Edjimicated? Here? (0.00 / 0)

Our state has an enormous amount of debt. We have a pension liability problem that is going to balloon until it pops. We just voted to put these Hooked on Arithmetic drop outs in charge again.

O/T Agreed, Barney Frank was class-less last night.

Stock up on pudding

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by: fluffy @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 15:23:25 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

it was a nasty race .... Did Bielat ever call to congratulate Frank? (0.00 / 0)

I went to bed at 11:30 on the night of the election, at that point Bielat had given his consession speach, but had not called to congratulate Frank for the win.  Personally, I don't blame Bialat for not calling ... like I said it was a nasty race.  But I do expect Bielat to throw up a thank you post on RedMassGroup sometime today.  He hasn't done so yet, But I expect him to spend 5 minutes to say thanks.  

Molon Labe

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by: Republican Ram Rod Radio @ Thu Nov 04, 2010 at 16:38:37 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

The Deval you know.... (0.00 / 0)

I voted for Deval for one simple reason. While he has not been particularly impressive, he's a known quantity. But aside from a number of early blunders that left you scratching your head as to how he ever made it this far in politics (new drapes, the Caddilac, etc.), he really hasn't made a lot of waves.

Simply put, I feel we're pretty far up the learning curve with Deval and have weathered the recession better than a lot of places to date. Injecting a new personality / agenda into things right now was not particularly appealing.

In the interests of full disclosure, I would say I am left of center as a rule.

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by: msdq @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 14:02:27 PM UTC

New State Motto: (5.00 / 1)

Thank you sir. May I have another?

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by: geo999 @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 14:32:07 PM UTC

Folks, take heart, we have a vestigial 2 party system (5.00 / 2)

I agree, in part with what Mr. Tucker says and I think last night proves what Nomad says is all too true.  The one comment I've heard this morning which sticks out is the apparent gap between men and women in the Governor's race. Charlie looked "mean", Deval looked "safe".

Let me waste a little more of Mr. Eno's bandwidth with these observations:

1. This is not hopeless.  The raw totals in the Gov race show MA split about 50 - 50 between center-right and left candidates.  Charlie Baker's two big mistakes were not introducing himself as the nice but smart guy that he is. (I remember the commercials he used to do for Harvard Pilgrim about him raising a diabetic son. Where was that guy?) Also, while I don't think there would have been alot to gain for Charlie to try to move right on social issues, the choice of Richard Tisei for LG was like a middle finger to the social right. (BTW I think Tisei is a top-notch guy.) Ask yourselves whether the Cahill vote would have been lower if it has been a Baker/Polito ticket with Tisei running for treasurer.

2.  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over... The same cast will be running everything here.  They cannot lower taxes.  They cannot really deal with pensions.  If Obama gets re-elected (or may before then) Deval will probably get out of here.  What's gonna happen ?  Where are working, tax producing people going to turn ?  

3.  The most upsetting things last night, for me, were Connaughton, Perry and Tierney.  Our new auditor is a tax cheat. The 10th CD congressman is bland "hack" who ran his entire campaign on bile and an overblown charge. And Tierney..well, we should all right letters to Darrell Issa (our new US House ethics chairman)...Mr.T's "21st century marriage" notwithstanding, he has alot of 'splainin' to do. I wish to point out that my one correct prediction was that only Olver and Capuano got more than 60%.  That is a massive improvement over previous years.  We've got to keep on these people.  Insanity  is treatable.

4. Scott Brown was not a pipe dream.  We have 40% of the electorate pretty solidly behind us. The other 10% + 1 are winnable.  I mean, what are we gonna do, move to NH ? ... oh, that's right no one will buy our houses here ....  

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by: CoolwCoolidge @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 14:41:37 PM UTC

Charlie ran his campaign with both guns blazing - (0.00 / 0)

On the one hand, that's what I love about him and what was so inspiring; on the other, that's what led to his defeat. State and municipal workers, and teachers, were worried about their pensions and their job security, and the unions came out in droves. That's because Charlie painted the sky with his plan to reform the pension system and cut 5,000 from the payroll. I thought it was ingenious, because I thought there were enough people like me sick of being played for chumps paying for payroll patriots' high salaries and incredible benefits. But I was wrong - there are simply more of them than there are of me - and my side lost, big.

I applaud Charlie Baker for being gutsy, saying what he planned to do and running on that; I wouldn't have had as much respect for him if he had cut deals with the union orcs to win an election - but no question, that's why he lost. The Dems, including Patrick and Obama, have caught on - the less you tell people about what you plan to do, the more they like you.

Charlie fought the good fight on all the issues that matter - but he did not play to WIN. That might have meant selective discussion of issues and making some union concessions. I will always have enormous respect for him as a man of principle, even as I mourn this loss - Charlie was THE ABSOLUTE BEST person for the JOB of Governor.      

Any man who afflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood. - H. L. Mencken

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by: MiracleGirl @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 14:43:09 PM UTC

I want to vote Republican, really, I do (5.00 / 1)

I am a 30 something female registered Democrat, but consider myself "independent" I just often forget to change my party affiliation after the primaries where I have selected the Democratic ballot.  I am well educated and gainfully employed (as is my husband).  I have very young children.  I own home in a nice town near Boston.  I want to vote Republican, and I have in the past, but most of your candidates are/come across as as----es.  To answer some of your questions, IN PART I voted for the following reasons:  

For William Weld (twice) because he jumped into the Charles River fully clothed and earlier Silber (the nut) calling Mr. Weld an orange-headed WASP, actually humanized him to a socially liberal Catholic Democrat like my then self.  

For Patrick in 2006 because Healy seemed like a cold bitch.  I liked her best at her concession speech and wished, so wished, she had shown more of that persona in her campaign.  

For Scott Brown mostly to vote against MC, because she is a shameless self-promoter who never made a political decision in her life motivated by anything other than how it would help advance her career.  The facts that Brown is hot, a hardworking athlete and drove his old pick up truck campaigning, didn't hurt either.  

Against Bump because she is a liar and a cheat and should be prosecuted for her tax indiscretions.  I had no idea who was running against Bump until I got into the voting both and saw Mary What's-her-name's name there.  Never saw a yard sign, sign holder, postcard or tv ad mentioning Mary What's-her-name.  I did get a Bump postcard and saw several yard signs.  

For McKenna first and foremost because I have the privilege of knowing him professionally and know he is an intelligent man with honest intentions for a tough job, and secondly to vote against MC.  

For Patrick last night, reluctantly, because Republicans didn't play nicely in the sandbox early on in this election when they smeared Cahill with their misleading (albeit effective) radio ads.  I took the time to go to the RGA website and read all their claims against Cahill.  I then took the time to read all the articles cited on the website that were accessible on the web.  The RGA took too many liberties with the facts and the revelation that Baker called Jack Connors seeking money for the RGA did not go over well with me.  To top it off Baker's decision to stand next to Loscocco at a press conference after Loscocco abandoned Cahill evidenced poor judgment.  

I would have voted Bielat over Frank and Keeting over Perry because Frank appears arrogant and entitled and Bielat seems to possess integrity.  I would not have voted for Perry who is a liar.  While I don't blame him for lacking maturity and character and making a mistake 20 years ago, he needed to come clean and admit his mistake rather than stick to his guns when, clearly, no one believed his story.

If you want Massachusetts voters like me to vote for Republicans candidates you need Republican candidates who possess qualities I like:  humility (Weld),  warmth (Patrick), boy-next-door/every-guy i.e., good looking, hardworking and frugal (Brown), not a crook (Mary What's-her-name),  good intentions (McKenna) and integrity (Bielat).  I'm rooting for you in 2012!

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by: lawyerbc93 @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 18:36:32 PM UTC

Excuse my typos above. I do know how to spell, just not how to type. (0.00 / 0)

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by: lawyerbc93 @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 18:38:15 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

And say 'hi' to Jim for me - we met a couple of times, and he IS impressive. (0.00 / 0)

Yr. Obedient Servant, Peter Porcupine, Republican

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by: Peter Porcupine @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 19:27:16 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

YOU are a distillation of voters in Mass. Every one of your criticisms are valid. (0.00 / 0)

Yr. Obedient Servant, Peter Porcupine, Republican

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by: Peter Porcupine @ Wed Nov 03, 2010 at 19:26:42 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Let's talk about the results... (0.00 / 0)

Interested in discussing the results? Watch Basic Black tonight at 7:30pm on channel 2 in Boston for a live discussion of the results of gubernatorial elections. You can also watch us online at www.basicblack.org beginning at 7:20pm, where there will be a live chat.  

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by: BasicBlack @ Thu Nov 04, 2010 at 19:44:27 PM UTC