So here I am in the “press room” outside the main hall at Worcester’s DCU Center. We just heard the three candidates for Governor speak, and Charley has a nice live-blog of those speeches. I pretty much agree with his take – Gabrieli bashed Healey perhaps unnecessarily hard; Patrick is the best speaker this state has seen in some time; and Reilly, faced with the unenviable task of following Patrick, really did pretty well.
Conventional wisdom (ha ha – get it? conventional? thanks – I’m here all week) on the floor and in the press room seems to be that everyone will get on the ballot – all 3 Gov candidates, all 3 LGs, and both Secretary of States. Let’s hope so – the last thing any reader of this blog wants to hear is more of my belly-aching about the 15% rule! đŸ˜‰
Unfortunately, there were a couple of challenges to delegates that have to be resolved before the balloting can begin, so the results from the first ballot are not expected until 2 pm at the earliest. I probably will miss it, since I have to sing a concert this afternoon. So keep checking in on Charley’s post – he’ll have all the goods.
I stopped by the briefly-open door of the press room on my way from the exhibit halls to the visitor section upstairs in the balcony. Popped my head in and asked if anyone knew if you or David were there, but didn’t spot you and the people near the door had no idea who you were. Ahh well. Better to blog from the balcony, I just need to go back to recharge my batter occasionally đŸ™‚
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Is there a monitor in the press room carrying audio and video from the convention floor? Can you clearly see and hear audience reactions, sign-waving, etc. when you’re in there? I couldn’t tell.
No, can’t really see sign-waving. We see what you see on the big monitors. It’s good to get both perspectives, though, since these are the folks you’re going to see on TV for the next few months. I watched the LGs from the press room (where I can get a wifi signal), and the govs from the floor.
(Disclaimer: I support Deval)So far reactions have been that this may have been Reilly’s best speech. Now, I wasn’t physically present which can certainly influence emotion and reaction and effectiveness of a speech but, I watched all three on NECN’s website. Am I really the only one that thought that it was weak? He looked scared, he stumbled, and he failed to even attempt what I believed to be so important for him, to address and sway his audience of very liberal activists. He looked as moderate (conservative to progressives) as ever. Is he looking past the convention already? If he is, I admire his confidence but I think the Republicans worst nightmare is a debate between Kerry Healey and Deval Patrick. She loses and conservative ideologies lose harder.
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I like Tom and in most other years would likely vote for him but I think that Dems have to come out hard and strong in support of people who are as democratic as we can find. If we do not curtail the spread of Republican corruption than all of us lose, and I speak for concern of all citizens, including our Republican friends and neighbors.
His speech was fine but nothing to write home about. I know it was pretty tough to follow Patrick’s energy level. At the same time there were no major fumbles and honestly he only needed to escape this part of the process. He did that successfully and can now move on to the next phase.
I wasn’t in attendance either, but I don’t think it is all that important. Reilly exceeded expectations. His speech was better than other major ones, though still not effective as he is one on one when hes refreshingly not self-centered.
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I think he did a good job because if he tacked more to the left, he’d have likely upset some of his supporters and been berated on blogs like this for pandering. Most people won’t see the speech, if they’re paying a mild amount of attention at this stage, they’ll know he will be on the ballot.
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Your assessment of his performance isn’t entirely wrong, I just think you missed the mark on his objective. He wasn’t there to win, he was there to make it to Sept 19th.
I was at both last year’s convention and this one. His speech last year was bland and uninspired, so from that perspective this speech was much better. He was certainly energized.
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Actually, the funny thing was that all of these firefighters and labor supporters were chanting his name throughout the speech, and they were sometimes interuppting him. I think Reilly wanted them to pipe down a bit.
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Still, for me anyways, anything that follows Patrick sounds like the same old politics as usual – hitting all the interest groups, talking about electability, etc.