Globe columnist Eileen McNamara positioned Andrea Silbert squarely at the undecided voters identified by her colleague Lisa Wangsness (“women, more likely to live in Southern or Western Massachusetts, and more likely to describe themselves as moderates”) in her column Voice for the Middle Class published yesterday (also highlighted by astute reader TheOpenSociety). The piece follows an impressively favorable column Friday about Silbert by Wayne Woodleif in the Herald.
“Andrea Silbert is inside her kitchen brewing coffee, as rare a sight this August as the abruptly damp and chilly weather that has materialized outside.
“A weekend of public events looms, but for a few hours the peripatetic candidate for lieutenant governor of Massachusetts has touched down at home, a modest converted barn a block from the scenic Herring River . There are finger paints on the farmer’s table, Matchbox cars on the hardwood floor, and a laptop in the dining room — the accoutrements of a candidate juggling a household that includes three children under the age of 6 and a campaign that features two rivals with more-conventional political resumes.
“Silbert’s Democratic competitors, Worcester Mayor Tim Murray and former Brookline selectwoman Deb Goldberg, have greater name recognition and more support among party insiders, but political junkies alone do not determine the outcome of primary elections. Voters do, and voters might well be taken by a 42-year-old newcomer who, as cofounder and director of the nonprofit Center for Women and Enterprise, has actually delivered on the perennial promise of politicians everywhere to create jobs.”
As someone who’s been involved with several campaigns, I can’t tell you how hard it is to earn coverage like that. Both columns devoted enough ink to give readers a true understanding of Silbert as a person and her background/perspective on a few issues. The timing doesn’t hurt either, helping set the tone for Silbert as the stretch run of the campaign begins.
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On the issues front, looks like Silbert and Goldberg have taken clear stands on the Wind Energy project. Silbert is For it, Goldberg is Against. Tim is still deciding. Here’s a link to today’s Cape Cod Times: