Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Is Governor’s Race Tightening Between Reilly and Gabrielli in Reilly’s Mind?

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“…I am going to spend the next five months traveling this state, talking to regular families about the need for new, proven leadership to get this state moving again and to make a real difference in their lives. I’ve been fighting on the side of the working families of Massachusetts throughout my career, and it’s exactly what I’m going to continue doing as Governor.

At the same time, my opponent has now declared that he is going to spend up to $15.36 million dollars in the three months between now and the September primary. That is in addition to the $3 million that he has already spent. That is an obscene amount of money by any standard. Worse still, he joked about the figure, as if spending limits and the amount of money in politics is some sort of punch line. 

I believe it sends exactly the wrong message — that the only people who can run for office are people of vast personal wealth…” Tom Reilly

I’m wondering if he’s focusing a little bit too much on Gabrieli too soon?  Campaigns all have significant assets. For instance Reilly has a lot of institutional support, Patrick has a great field organization plus his wealth and Gabrieli has his work that he’s done in public policy and his wealth. And each campaign will continue to build a field organization to the levels they feel they need to win in September. 

I think it is just a little bit early to be slamming Gabrieli so hard, unless there are some

poll numbers that we don’t know about? Was there some polling done after the convention? Does anyone know? 

Also hear this: NO MORE HUMOR ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL!

Full disclosure: I’m a Gabrieli supporter.

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Comments

  1. Gabrieli is following the law. If people don’t like the law, they can try to change it. But just arguing that someone is spending a lot of money on their campaign is not, in my judgment, likely to swing many votes. And no one except for political consultants either understands or cares about the “joke,” let alone finds it funny. If it was a joke, as opposed to, shall we say, a sardonic statement, it must rank as one of the least amusing humorous essays of the century.

    • …people, i.e., the electorate, DID try to change the law.  It was called Clean Elections.  It was gutted by Democrats in the Legislature, except for Lucky winner Warren Tolman.

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      It would appear that TRY is the operative word here, as Clean Elections joins other 10,000 signature citizen petions on the ash heap of Democracy.

  2. Reilly and Patrick are trying to paint Gabrieli as aloof and out-of-touch with everyday Bay Staters because he’s loaded. Or worse yet, a cheater because he got in late and created a three-way race.

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    The $15.36 million issue is going to bug a few people who are buggable by something like that, but I think that mainstream Bay Staters are looking for substance and not cheap shots from opponents.

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    Gabrieli’s a self-made man with great talent and experience. That’s what he’ll be putting forward while naysayers take potshots at him, since they can’t take him on on the real issues facing our state.

  3. It is not uncommon for a candidate to single out one opponent if that opponent is particularly vulnerable to an argument.  Both Tom Reilly and Patrick agreed to participate in the public finance system, so it really wouldn’t make any sense for Tom Reilly to mention Patrick in this message to his supporters.

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    Moreover, The Boston Herald is reporting that Deval Patrick is more or less saying the exact same thing:

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    The response was a bit delayed – the press and bloggers were all over this last week – but today Deval Patrick put an video clip on his website, which was also emailed to supporters, taking Chris Gabrieli to task for setting the campaign spending cap at $15.36 last week.

    “Chris is the one who gets to determine the spending cap for the rest of us,” Patrick said in the videoblog, which can be found here. “He set that cap and $15.36 million, and had the nerve to make a joke about it.”

    Gabrieli called it a joke last week, referencing the percentage of votes he garnered at the convention. But apparently Patrick didn’t find it funny, and accused Gabrieli of trying to buy the election. A Gabrieli spokesman declined to comment on the video today.

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    Gabrieli has decided to spend a ton of money, which was an option available to him.  It will hurt him in certain circles but he’s big enough to do his own political calculus.  Only time will tell if it was the right or wrong decision.

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    In the meantime, it is absurd to interpret this email as a shift in Tom Reilly’ campaign.  If it is, then apparently Patrick is on board with the new strategy.

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    In reality, both Tom Reilly and Patrick are wisely making Gabrieli feel as uncomfortable as possible about his decision in an effort to galvanize supporters.  This is basic politics, nothing more.

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