Blue Mass Group

John Walsh, Deval Patrick’s campaign manager, dropped a comment in the thread discussing Victory ’06 that I thought merited front-page treatment so that everyone sees it.  According to Walsh, coordination with the state party in general and the Victory ’06 operation in particular has been excellent.  Money quote: John says everyone should have “the full confidence that Victory ’06, the campaigns of Deval Patrick, Tim Murray and the rest of the Democratic ticket have been meeting and we will be full partners in this effort as we go forward.”  Here’s all of what he has to say:

I was just composing an e-mail to all of Team Patrick to be sent out today when I noticed this thread.  Things have been so (wonderfully) hectic around here that I haven’t checked BMG for a day – I won’t make that mistake again.  I thought you’d all be sleeping for a day or two – I am learning every day and I guess even I underestimated the power of the grassroots – you guys are ready to rumble already.  Give MassDems a break – the lack of early communication with Team Patrick is my error and here is the e-mail that will be sent to remedy it.

John Walsh

- – - – - – -

Team Patrick –

Congratulate yourselves.

900,000 people voted on Tuesday.  Remarkable!

In just under seven weeks, at least another million and a half voters will arrive at the polls and we have lots of work to do.

Your work – - one-volunteer-to-one-voter – - made all of the difference in getting more than 250,000 more people to the polls than was projected.  We know you worked your heart out and for that we are extremely grateful.

As we look to this next phase of the campaign, we are excited to tell you that we will be partnering with some fantastic people who have been working with Victory ’06 – - many of you may have been lending a hand with them during the primary.  In the first days post-primary, the Victory ’06 folks have prepared – - and we have approved – - new phone scripts and we expanded the list of voters we need to reach out to.

Because it was not possible for us (or any of the campaigns) to incorporate this Victory ’06 work into our systems prior to the primary, the first round of phone lists will be delivered in person by a friendly person from V’06.  Please welcome the lists and the scripts as if they were posted on the Community Tool – - they will be within days.

Instead of “our” phone banks, due to the efforts of Victory ’06, hundreds of phone lines have been identified AND STAFFED (151 phones statewide were working last night – almost 4200 dials and 1,500 contacts! – NICE JOB!).  They have been a huge help and we would encourage you to take these first steps with the full confidence that Victory ’06, the campaigns of Deval Patrick, Tim Murray and the rest of the Democratic ticket have been meeting and we will be full partners in this effort as we go forward.

Victory ’06 Campaign Manager Tracey Lewis is a personal friend of ours (John worked with her on the Coordinated Campaign of 2002 and Nancy and Tracey were part of John Kerry’s NH team in 2004).  She and the staff she has assembled will be a huge asset for us.  Nancy and Tracey have been working together to finalize a plan as to how the two staffs will become one in this endeavor and you will hear more about that within 24 hours.  Give us a day or two to work out the systems kinks and I promise you’ll find this combined team will be even better than what we’ve had to date.

By the way, in addition to the phone banks, we are jointly sponsoring canvassing efforts this weekend.  Please plug into them as well.

Special heads up – Patrick/Murray bumper stickers will be at HQ by the weekend.

John Walsh, Campaign Manager

Nancy O’Connor Stolberg, Field Director

Deval Patrick for Governor