My take: Gabbers realizes that he can’t make up the ground that he needs with Reilly voters, so he is unveiling a two-prong strategy: dismiss one candidate, hope the public buys it, and focus most of your energy on undermining the substance of Deval Patrick, the candidate who the public generally knows the least.
For example, from State House News Service:
[G]ubernatorial candidate Christopher Gabrieli said this morning that in most peoples minds the race has boiled down to one between him and Deval Patrick. . .Gabrieli also portrayed himself as a candidate who can do the job, contrasting himself with Patrick, who he suggested is good at giving speeches and talking about hope.
And by “most people’s minds,” Gabbers actually means his own. . .maybe. . .or his strategists’. . .maybe. . .if he actually believes his/their spin. . .which I doubt he really does.
UPDATE #1: And to further emphasize my argument, this from the Globe’s Political Intelligence:
Democrat Christopher Gabrieli this morning described rival Deval Patrick as “out of touch with the mainstream views of Massachusetts,” launching his harshest attack yet on Patrick.
UPDATE #2: From the Associated Press:
Chris Gabrieli accused Deval Patrick on Tuesday of being out of the Massachusetts political “mainstream,” backed by “a small group of rabid supporters” who have led him to take positions that will cost the Democratic Party the gubernatorial election.
Spin, dreidel! Spin, spin, spin!!!
“A happy game of dreidel. . .Come play now let’s begin!”
I think that more likely, Gabs realizes what most of us do: Reilly is in serious trouble. He understands that he needs to convince those whose Reilly support has been softened to peel away, as they are more likely to wind up in his camp than DP’s.