The Phoenix’s Adam Reilly has this interesting chat with Chris Gabrieli. It’s well worth a read. Here’s an interesting excerpt from the part about the convention dynamics:
This resentment [from delegates, about the rules “clarification”] could make it especially challenging for Gabrieli to take the next step â namely, convincing 800-some delegates to vote for him on the floor of the convention come June. Remember: these delegates are, for the most part, political junkies who love the process of politics. But Gabrieliâs late entry suggests a tacit disrespect for their worldview â which, in turn, could alienate delegates who still arenât committed. Furthermore, plenty of Deval Patrick supporters see Gabrieli, rightly or wrongly, as an establishment figure whoâs received the go-ahead to bring their candidate down. Then thereâs Tom Reilly, who may be hovering uncomfortably close to the 15 percent mark himself: he has to avoid hemorrhaging so many delegates to Gabrieli that his gubernatorial hopes die on the convention floor in Worcester. For different reasons, both the Patrick and the Reilly forces are sure to fight like hell to prevent defections to Gabrieli come June.
And, in case you were one of those wondering whether Chris Gabrieli really is an “establishment figure,” here’s an interesting tidbit: Susan over at Beyond 495 reports that “Massachusetts Democratic Party Deputy Director David Howard has left the organization to work for the Gabrieli for Governor campaign. He’s listed on the Gabrieli website as the regional contact for Middlesex and Essex counties.” Geez – is Phil Johnston next?
UPDATE (4/7): Why yes, in fact, Phil Johnston is next! From Brian McGrory’s tongue-bath column on Gabrieli this morning: “‘Oh, Chris is a great guy,’ state Democratic Party chairman Philip W. Johnston said yesterday.”
the Gabrieli campaign itself creates something of a vacuum, as he has a year’s worth of campaign-building to catch up on.
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and Massachusetts has always been a candidate-driven state (as opposed to a party-driven state.) not terribly surprising with the Howard move.
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the better question to aks is who takes his place at party HQ. There is some growth going on over there and they’re getting serious about the Victory ’06 program.
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ears to the ground…
At Tuesday night’s Democratic State Committee meeting, Phil Johnston announced that David Howard had just resigned to take a position with “a campaign.” David had been on staff for five years, which is an eternity as these things go.
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David’s position will not be replaced directly, as it will allow the party to finally add a staff member for affirmative action and outreach, which has been a sticking point for a while.
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Chris Gabrieli spoke to the DSC briefly (along with Sam Kelley and Andrea Silbert). The State Committee is clearly not Chris’ crowd, as it is mostly the political insiders who are solidly behind Deval Patrick (the real candidate of the “Democratic establishment”), so the reception was polite at best.
on the chances that Deval will exceed 70%, and we have a situation where either Gabriele or Reilly — or both! — fail to get the 15%?
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It doesn’t seem like there’ll be enough delegates for all three — but what are the chances that Gabrieli and Reilly take each other out?
But I frankly cannot imagine it will happen. There will be enough horse-trading in advance of the vote to ensure that everyone gets on – Patrick with a solid majority of the delegates, and the other two with barely enough to squeak onto the ballot. So Patrick walks away with the convention endorsement, and the other two walk on with access to the ballot, which is what everyone wants and expects from the convention. And IMHO, since the whole 15% rule is totally bogus inside baseball crap anyway, it would be a travesty to keep any of these three off the ballot for that reason alone. If each of them can put together 10,000 signatures, they should be on the ballot, and I seriously doubt the 15% rule will be used to keep any of them off.
Why do we have political parties anyway? The developments in communications in general over the past 100 years, and the internet in particular, have diminished — I didn’t write elininated! — the importance of these alliances, I think. In any event, they’ll all get their 15% and they should.
here’s yet another tragic figure who’s become board with his life and opts to bleed over into the public sector seeking applause.
phil johnston is wrong. chris is not a “great guy”. he’s a troubled guy who’s opting to play out his mid-life crisis on the public stage, void of vision, void of substance, void of ideas, public sector experience and void of passion. his is a campaign staffed with folks waiting to go to iowa, or new hampshier, or south carolina…soon. chris pays their rent,poor guy, and the best thing that can happen to him and the process is for every delegate at the convention to stand with their backs to him as he struggles to speak. then his healing can begin. can’t you just imagine being somebody that nobody else wants to be?
So after saying all that (mostly unfair stuff…except the pay check for consultants) will you plead to support the eventual Democratic nominee for Gov against Healey? Or will you take your marbles home and whine some more because your candidate did not win?
I think the comments on Gabrieli are off point, largely, as they deal with the charisma factor, or political process. I find it interesting that those in fail to welcome anyone else in. Reilly doesn’t want Patrick, Reilly and Patrick don’t want Gabrieli. I understand why, but its a political NIMBY response. For us activists, I thought we believed the more the merrier. Isn’t that what the election process is about? And in fact, we have declared candidates that have very narrow experience; Reilly in law enforcement, Healey’s a “criminologist”, Patrick in law, and Mihos in transportation. Gabrieli seems at first blush to be the only well rounded candidate. The fact that he also reminds me of Mike Dukakis I think is also a plus (I think I’m on safe ground saying that here) Someone who understands policy, and might be the best governor out of the democratic lot.