State House News has several anonymous Senate sources confirming that Senator Therese Murray (D-Plymouth), the current Chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, has been making phone calls to line up support for a bid to succeed current Senate President Robert Travaglini (D-E. Boston). The weird thing is that Trav says he’s not going anywhere. “‘Heâs running for re-election to his Senate seat. Heâs running for re-election to his seat as president,’ [Travaglini spokesperson Ann] Dufresne said. She added, ‘Santa Claus must be dropping those rumors.'” Today’s Globe has a similar story, with similar denials by Trav’s staff that he’s going anywhere.
Huh. Now why would Terry Murray be calling up Senators to line up support for a job that apparently isn’t even open?
Here’s one intriguing possibility. A State House source tells us here at BMG Central that Murray is widely seen as one of Gov candidate Tom Reilly’s closest allies on Beacon Hill, and that her current position as head of Senate Ways & Means would make her a clear frontrunner for Secretary of Administration & Finance or some equally high-powered job in a Reilly administration. But, this source tells us, Murray is now looking around for Plan B. Why? Because, says the source, she – like a growing number of Beacon Hill insiders – doesn’t think Reilly can win.
Yow. When your closest allies are despairing of the possibility of working in your administration, you know your gubernatorial campaign has got problems. This weekend’s debate (it has just happened, but won’t air ’til Sunday morning) is suddenly looking pretty high-stakes for Reilly – to my mind, Reilly has yet to put forth a compelling vision for his candidacy, and apparently I’m not alone in thinking that way. He could make a good start toward fixing that this weekend. For his sake, I hope he’s ready.
“When your closest allies are despairing of the possibility of working in your administration.” And who would those be? The several anonymous Senate sources, or the unidentified BMG State House source.
I see Relly making a comeback.
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Don’t ask me why, but he can win in september. I didn’t think he could until the last few days.
He has no place to go but up and his opponents will start getting close scrutiny come summer time and people belive that reilly is basically a decent and honest fellow.
That’s certainly a possibility, but at this point anything can happen. I think all three candidates are viable candidates for the corner office. Democrats are blessed this time around with three outstanding candidates for governor, which is why it’s so important to stand by the guy you think is best.
Ernie, you were right about Barrios fleeing the Middlesex DA’s race and I think you’re right on with your Reilly prediction.
Sorry, but that opinion just doesn’t fly. Terry Murray is extremely close to Trav – that’s why she is Chair of Ways & Means. She wouldn’t be making those calls unless she had some indication that Trav might not be running for re-election. This rumor was already out there before Murray started to make calls. This has nothing to do with Reilly.
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The interesting question is, if Trav does step down, who succeeds him in that Senate seat. Is there a progressive Democrat out there who can win this seat? Would Gallucio move into that district instead of Barrios’s district? There are a lot more interesting questions here.
If Travaglini steps down, I’ll try to talk David Scondras into running 🙂 Though he might think I’m crazy. But I bet he could win.
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Tim Toomey’s state rep district is mostly in Trav-land, but more significantly, his entire base of support is here, including pretty much all of his votes for city council. Cambridge ward 1. If this seat opens up I wouldn’t be surprised if Toomey ran.
Galluch was born & raised in Cambridge; Barrios is from Tampa, Florida. Shouldn’t the carpetbagger be the one expected to have transient leanings?
So, when you say that the Boston Globe is carrying a similar story, you are actually referring to a story in which your “anonymous” source’s “intriguing possibility” is totally nonexistent? I thought BMG was dedicated to “reality-based” commentary? Whose reality? An “anonymous source’s?”
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I hope folks take advantage of your link, because the Globe story actually indicates that, if he were to leave, Travaglini would like to hand the post off to Murray. That is hardly “similar” to your “anonymous source’s” piece of pure conjecture.
The State House News story and the Globe story are similar, in that both indicate that Terry Murray is trying to line up support to be the next Senate Prez. Neither story contains the conjecture that my source provided. But then, apparently they didn’t have access to my source!
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I know you’re a Reilly guy, so this story bums you out. But the fact is that anonymous sources are a big part of the media biz today – and not everyone’s “reality” is the same as yours, apparently. We report, you decide. Get used to it.
based on the debate I suppose bet those Reilly doubters are back peddling today.
I’ll just take any anonymous sources with a grain of salt and treat them like the Drudge Report, knowing that 90% of the time thay are totally inaccurate.
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I am a Reilly supporter and I am hardly bummed out. This was a very good week for his campaign. Plus, I know that Terry Murray is a huge supporter of Reilly, which was why I know your source’s theory was likely bogus.
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I’m hardly intentionally misreading your post, just placing it in its proper context.
Is Trav the new Marie St. Fleur?
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I don’t see Reilly with Silbert or Murray – and he has demonstrated that he likes the GOP ‘ticket’ model. My only criticism of its practicality is that they are both too Boston-centric to win in Nvember…Oh, wait a minute, Never Mind!
Just back from vacation and heard the same thing – that Trav was leaving the Presidency post…but interestingly -not his seat (so I hear)…
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Got me thinking…..if it’s not Trav going anywhere -Is it MURRAY who wants to leave or does she have something lined up?
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My thinking is along the lines of….put your conspiracy hats on…..The ConCon regarding gay marriage which is coming up on May 11(?).
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Murray takes the presidency just in time to shut down the ConCon like Birmingham did in 2002 (?- 03? whenever it was!)
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She’s either in solid seat with no competition OR she’s got another post lined up if the Dems take the corner office in November…
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This way Trav is not the “bad” guy for shutting the petition down – leaving open a future state-wide run of which maybe Murray has no plans for…
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Just throwing that out there….
No way is Trav ever contemplating a state-wide run – maybe taking over for DeNucci if he steps down mid-term, but Trav knows that he has no legs for any other kind of a state-wide run. Trav has serious health problems, kids approaching college, and a difficult time saying no to anyone – he’s just not made for this position, and right now he would be able to step down and do something else where he could make a lot more money, reduce his stress, and go back to being the friendly guy he wants to be.