One of the constructive things a blog can do is cover important elections that, for whatever reason, are not covered extensively by the mainstream media (which ’round these parts means the Globe and the Herald). As far as I know, Blue Mass. Group’s coverage of the Second Middlesex Senate race was the most extensive to be found anywhere, and I hope we can repeat what we did in that race for upcoming important but overlooked contests.
At least at this point in the election cycle, the race for Lieutenant Governor appears to meet that description. The office is undeniably a very important one: among other things, the last two Lieutenant Governors (Paul Cellucci and Jane Swift) became Governor when their bosses resigned, and the current Lieutenant Governor may well do the same. So it behooves us all to understand who the people running for Lieutenant Governor are and what they stand for.
At the moment, there are three Democratic candidates for Lieutenant Governor: Deborah Goldberg, Sam Kelley, and Andrea Silbert. All three already have web sites and have been actively campaigning and raising money (Kelley to a considerably lesser extent than Goldberg and Silbert), though you wouldn’t know it from reading the papers. The field is an interesting one, as each candidate brings a very different background to the table: Goldberg chaired the Brookline Board of Selectmen; Kelley is a doctor and ran a health care company; and Silbert was an entrepreneur helping women start their own businesses.
Andrea Silbert was kind enough to spent about 45 minutes on the phone with us on Tuesday night. Each of us will shortly be posting our impressions of that call (much as we did for our conversation with Deval Patrick a few months back). We have invited Goldberg and Kelley to talk to us as well, and we hope that they will agree.
A word of disclosure is in order: my co-blogger Bob is a college friend of Silbert’s, and is actively supporting her candidacy. Charley and I, however, are uncommitted in this race. And the three of us don’t always agree.
