Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Hurray Hurray, It’s Patrick and Murray

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To coin a phrase … If you haven’t already heard from copious mainstream media, Deval Patrick is in the midst of cruising to victory in the gubernatorial primary. It’s now roughly 49% Patrick, 28% Gabrieli, 23% Reilly. The recent polls, so shocking a few days ago, were right.

Who else was right? Patrick campaign manager John Walsh was right, sticking with a tough, one-on-one grassroots campaign that has executed between “very well” and “brilliantly” at nearly every turn. Word-of-mouth (and free media) alone kept Patrick even in the polls, and once he actually competed with his own paid ads … the hammer was lowered. As one observer remarked to me a few days ago, “If Patrick wins this thing, John Walsh is everyone’s daddy.”

Patrick’s on now. Gonna go listen to his acceptance. This is an exciting moment in Massachusetts politics, if not beyond.

Update: Holy Moses, Gabrieli’s right there next to him. That is monumentally classy.

Further update on other races:

Galvin crushes Bonifaz, 83%-17%. That’s too bad.

Lynch crushes Dunkelbarger, 75%-25%.

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  1. At Patrick’s Pub in Pittsfield tonight, an oft-heard refrain was, “It’s been so long since one of our guys won.” 

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    Mr. Walsh, you not only figured out the way to win this thing, but you let each one of us be a part of it.  The grassroots approach was consistent with Deval’s message and leadership style, and it’s what Massachusetts voters have been hungering for.  It’s going to win in November, too. 

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    Nice work.  Now put away your laptop and get some sleep.

  2. Since I endorsed his opponent, let me be the first on this thread to congratulate SSL and all of the other devoted Murray supporters on this blog. Not to mention Mr. Murray as well, who ran an excellent campaign. I also thought it was very classy of Gabrieli to appear next to Patrick. Cabinet nomination, anyone? Maybe there will be a place for Silbert too. In any event, on to victory in November and a return to responsible government for Massachusetts.

  3. Those polls were positively bizarre, so just goes to show you that polling that doesn’t adequately consider geographic distribution is worthless.

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    So the dream ticket is a reality.  Out here in the Worcester area, we’re walking on air and ready to work.  What a thrilling victory on both accounts.  Outstanding.

    • a significant advantage, putting Murray’s grassroots in with Deval’s to work for Nov.

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      Heard from Andy of MassRevNow: “I’ve never picked two winners at the same time before!” LOL

      • I have alot more faith in our political system now, knowing that grassroots can trump money in Mass. Politics.

  4. looks to be WAY higher than predicted.

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    I agree that Gabrieli’s appearance was incredibly classy. And while Reilly didn’t show up, he gave a very gracious concession speech.

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    It all seems encouraging for the party’s ability to unite behind the ticket.

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    And after Patrick’s speech tonight, I’m feeling very good about his ability to handle Healy’s mud-slinging.

    • on WBUR kept hammering how Healey will nail Patrick on taxes, taxes, taxes, and oh, immigration, ad nauseum.

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      He also hinted darkly that there was more to Reilly’s no-show at the Patrick party than simply not getting there in time, and that Healey will easily pick up disgruntled Reilly voters in communities like South Boston and Dorchester, especially “those voters who are unhappy with Patrick’s stand on immigration.” Notice which two communities he mentioned. Way to play the race card, anyone?

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      And then in a real whopper, he claimed that Patrick went negative first on Healey, when it was apparent to anyone following events that it was Healey who used her entire “victory” speech to lie about Patrick before Patrick even appeared before the cameras to give his speech!

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      Fortunately host Bob Oakes called him on it and didn’t give him a chance to weaselword his way out before they ended the election coverage.

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      And Patrick did a beautifully executed pivot turn from his message of optimism, to appeal to Healey to have a candid discussion of the issues–and proceeded to name them, along with all the ways the “current administration” had failed to address them.

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      If Healey thinks Patrick is going to let her smear him, she has another thing coming. He’s going to tie the Mittster around her neck and throw them both into the Charles–with a smile, of course.

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      As to her attack speech tonight, all Patrick would say was “Kerry Healey was very gracious when I spoke on the phone with her tonight…” and just sort of let the rest (“as opposed to what she said afterwards to the cameras”) just sort of hang in the air. Beautiful!

      • kept saying the current Mass. income tax rate was 5.7%, and no one corrected him. I think it’s a sad comment when neither Oakes nor the other two pundits recognized 5.7% as false information — what, they don’t pay taxes in this state? So the information that proposed Healy rollback would be from only 5.3%, and that Patrick has expressed support for letting the current law work its gradual reduction (and how it works) was never mentioned.

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        WBUR never seems to cover itself in glory on election night, which is a constant disappointment to me, since I’m always stuck in a car driving back from a Tuesday night rehearsal, and there’s precious little choice when one wants election results and other coverage. (No Lt. Gov. results between 9:00 and 9:20, despite mindless blather about which gubernatorial candidate might be conceding when. Unbelievable.)

        • If Healey is so much in favor of a rollback of the income tax rate, and if she’s been in office for 4 years, WHY HASN’T THE ROLLBACK HAPPENED?

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          Let’s see, could it be because it’s the Legislature that’s ultimately responsible for tax rates and not the governor?

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          The fact is, the Romney/Healey administration has been completely ineffective working with the Legislature. A Healey administration would be no more more effective. It’s painfully obvious that it doesn’t MATTER whether she’s for it or not, because she’d never get it passed. Current performance in office is clearly proof of this.

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          So how can she get away with using the rollback as an issue, when she and Romney have been utterly ineffective on it? Why hasn’t anyone called her on that?

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          If Gabrieli does want to help in the campaign, I think this would be a good point to hammer on. And by the way, I think Healey made a major tactical blunder by going after Gabrieli with negative advertising. Given the numbers, I doubt that her ads had much to do with the final result last night. But I suspect she sure did fire up Gabrieli to want to help defeat her in November.

      • Didn’t hear Nuzzo’s comments, but they sound spot-on as far as Healey’s strategy.

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        Here’s my one sentence version: “Deval Patrick is going to raise your taxes so illegal immigrants can go to college.”

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        • Quotas will be worked in, along with that teacher from NJ.  We may see her in person, which could be a very damaging wedge issue.  I hope that the campaign isn’t too focused on running a positive campaign focused on the issues that they forget to play defense.

          • He loses.

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            Far be it from any of us to tell Deval Patrick how to run his campaign, but he can’t get suckered into playing on GOP turf.

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            Allow me a digression here-

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            Yesterday, we had another election in Plymouth. A Debt Exclusion vote to upgrade and expand our high schools. After a pretty contentious campaign, it passed. Thankfully.

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            While I don’t think the two are connected, I see a similarity in the messages of both sides in our vote and the messages of the gubernatorial candidates.

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            The basic message of Healy, and those who opposed the schools project here, boils down to “What are THEY (government) doing to screw ME over?”

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            The message of Patrick, and those who supported the schools boils down to “What are WE doing to help OUR community.”

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            We Democrats are always looking for a frame. That’s it.

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            Talk about “THEM” and we lose. Talk about “US” and we win. Patrick knows that already. if he sticks to it, he wins.

            • Consensus seems to be that this time, the Republican plan that has worked well for quite a long time will no longer work.  I hope that this proves to be true.

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              I was certainly wrong to be pessimistic about the power of the “grass roots” organization, as opposed to media purchasing power.  I’d be happy to be wrong again.

      • Reading that was almost as fun as when I watched it on TV. Thanks for letting me relive last night. Healey is so toast. I’m going to laugh when Deval’s elected thinking back on all those people who were worried about “electability” thinking it meant having the right hodge-podge of issues. They’re soon going to see that when Deval Patrick speaks, Kerry Healey quivers.

  5. That’s really all I’ve got.  I was at Cambridge Drinking Liberally, which was good fun tonight, so I really don’t have much else, but I’m beyond happy right now, but know that we’ve got a lot of work to do in the morning…

  6. The appearance went above and beyond the call of duty.

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    Am very happy that Deval won. A major victory for the grassroots and the netroots.

    • that was beyond classy on his part… I feel really good about Patrick and Murray’s chances in a month and a half.

    • I was at the Patrick victory party in Boston.  Chris came out first, was waving to us.  Kept smiling through Deval’s entire speech. 

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      Chris Gabrielli was a class act.  My opinion of him went up substantially based on tonight.  (Though I’m still glad my guy won.)

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      Cause for amazement:  I voted the winner for both gov. and lt. gov.  That NEVER happens!  Too bad my guy in the SoS race got squashed like a bug.

    • I was really angry at Gabrieli when he went negative on Deval, but what he did last night made up for a lot in my eyes. It had to be an extremely painful moment for Gabrieli, but he sucked it up and did what was best for the cause he ultimately believes in (Democrats taking back the governor’s office) instead of nursing his wounded ego.

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      And even though Reilly didn’t show, I give him points as well for the speech he gave. Reilly just lost his entire decades-long career, and while I’m sure he’ll end up fine either in the private sector or academia, it still has to be a major blow.

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      Senator Lieberman certainly could have learned a few things about grace, class and loyalty from either/both of them. Even though I’m a registered independent, I’m very proud of the Massachusetts Democratic party today.

      • That was an excellent metaphor, by the way: Gabrieli had class, Lieberman’s just a wiesel.

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        Reilly’s concession speech was so great that I definately forgive him for not being there either. I actually have turned a 180 on Reilly and like him now.

  7. First of all, thank you to everyone who has been a voice for their candidates here, winner or loser. I sincerely mean that. I had a moment earlier, looking at the BMG traffic report today, which really made me realize the tangible impact that this site and ALL that contribute to it have had. Actually, the moment was more like ‘damn, I need to stop posting half drunk on no sleep, a lot of people read this stuff!’ but you get the idea…Bravo to everyone that has made and will continue to make this place what it is!

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    Second, thank you to Reilly and Gabrieli,  who showed a ton of class tonight. It’s been a long race, and they deserve all of our respect for their campaigns and their actions tonight as well. Unity will make or break us between now and November, and we’re going to need everyone to roll up their sleeves and go to work. I’m sure that all of you will. For those who were supporting the other two candidates…WE NEED YOU!

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    Lastly, I will be doing something tomorrow that I hope some others will do as well. I will be writing Reilly and Gabrieli, and thanking them as mentioned above. I will also be asking them to be real forces in terms of support and counsel in helping us retake the corner office. I’ll do this because I think both of them are very valuable resources to use towards our succes in November.

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    Deval says it very well, I’m really tired so I’ll steal his words. Each of the candidates has some good ideas. Let’s do unity right and let’s do it long after the unity breakfasts and such.

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    Together we can.

  8. I loved that moment when you think Deval is going to come out and.. what? Gabrieli appears! very very classy, and makes up a lot of the respect I had lost for him. He would be an excellent Secretary of Education, and I’m sure he will fold into the campaign very well.

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    Acceptence speech full of grace, class, humility, determination, solidarity, and gratitude. Loved it.

    • some disappointment in Murray’s move to declare victory before Silbert or Goldberg conceded, but understand the rush to get to Deval’s victory party… but anyway: Hurray! Hurray! Patrick/Murray!

      • He had a lot more info in terms of numbers than we did, and he was true Murray by holding his primary rally here in Worcester. He had a pragmatic need to get to Boston once it became clear he was the winner, and I really think he wanted to address us here first.

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        But anyway, as you said…Let’s move on. We’ve got a lot to do for November!

      • and hope that they jump onboard the Patrick/Murray bandwagon. I know that Goldberg already graciously said she would be giving 1 million dollars so the Democrats can win in November.

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        Hope everyone will be at the Unity Rally in Roslindale tonight!

    • not education.

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      He is the very model of the modern Secretary of Administration  and Finance.

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      I have thought so for a while but refrained from saying so while he was a candidate for fear it would sound like a put down (not intended).

      • for both races in a Patrick administration. Especially Silbert and Gabrieli. Talent shouldn’t be wasted.

  9. Out of the results in at this late hour, I decided to play with the town-by-town. Mostly, it’s because I’m too psyched to sleep…

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    351 Cities and Towns in MA-

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    All but 23 went to Patrick. Of those 23, 11 were within 100 votes. In only 5 of them did Deval finish last.

    • Those are some AMAZING numbers!

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      I tiredly, proudly list LOWELL among those where patrick was only second by less than 100. I’m still in shock. What amazing people worked in Lowell for Deval – they all deserve so much credit (Lowell peeps expect a big party at some point to celebrate again – and plan for the next move!)

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      What will the Sun say tomorrow???? (Not the front page, that blasted editorial page, except for Paul Sullivan, who’s been impressed with Deval a while now.)

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      And I am off to sleep now. If I can!!!

  10. To celebrate the Patrick Murray ticket with Murray’s campaign slogan shows as little class as Murray did declaring victory before his opponents conceded. Thank God Deval has enough Class for both of them. Another example of Class was Tom ReillyÂ’s concession speech. An old school gentlemanÂ’s values that any forward thinking progressive would do well to learn.

  11. I especially appreciated having this site during the final weeks of the primary campaign, last night as the results came in, and this morning to celebrate. I know I’ll appreciate it in the weeks ahead. And I don’t even have to subscribe! Don’t have to pay a penny to read and participate. In thanks, this morning I just sent a contribution to the Blue Mass Group affiliate link of Deval Patrick’s campaign.

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    If you can afford a few dollars today, wouldn’t that be a great way to celebrate last night’s victory AND thank the people who run this site that so many of us enjoy? And it’s so easy! Just click here đŸ™‚

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