Not that it’s a bad thing but I got a great kick out of the Menino introduction at today’s rally. If I had just walked in I would have thought that Mayor Menino was with Deval for the past year. “One year ago, Mayor Menino stood on this stage with Deval Patrick, yada yada yada”. Two or three references to sharing a stage at a voter registration rally one year ago does not equal long standing support for our candidate.
The truth is that Tom Menino was doing everything in his power up to and including the primary to ensure that anyone other than Deval Patrick was the Democratic nominee. And I hate to think where Tom would be standing if the Democrats had generated an independent “Mihos-type” candidate. Has anyone seen Gabrieli or Reilly lately?
But hey, we’re the big tent party. Jump on board. Bring Bob and Sal with you. Just don’t expect business as usual.
Deval by 20. Brand new day.
The Patrick campaign has been about coming together to work towards improving Massachusetts. Mayor Menino showed with a really great speech that he gets that important point. Unfortunately, I just heard a story that indicates some Democrats still do not get it.
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Yesterday, at a separate political function that took place before the rally, some Deval Patrick supporters from before the primary gave a friend of mine who supported Chirs Garbrielli during the primary a hard time about her support. This friend is the most dedicated campaign worker I know. She is, and will, put in 12 or more hours a day until the general election to make sure Deval Patrick is elected. She has been an active Democrat for many years; not just one who shows up on election day. Despite all this dedication, she was criticized yesterday over the fact that she supported Chris Gabrielli at the Convention.
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The people doing the criticizing should know better and should recognize that what they did is exactly what the Patrick campaign is not about. They should be doing whatever it takes to make sure that Democrats who were on other campaigns before the primary feel welcomed and wanted in the Deval Patrick campaign. They also need to remember a point that Deval Patrick has made recently. The actions of people who support a candidate reflect back on the candidate.
Maybe you misunderstood me. I think it’s great that Tom Menino spoke on Deval’s behalf Sunday. I give him credit for that. I just thought it was interesting (and somewhat instructive, going forward) to observe the spin, that’s all. There was a subtle attempt to portray the Mayor as a long time supporter of Deval. This doesn’t make him a second class citizen.
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The bigger questions, which I alluded to, are: Where are all the other Democratic power brokers? Why aren’t they more visible? What does this say about what Deval will encounter when he takes office?
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Deval will get a lot of votes from former Gabrieli and Reilly supporters, as he should. And he will win. I feel bad that TheOpenSociety’s friend was criticized for past support of Gabrieli. That’s not nice. I wouldn’t criticize any Deval supporter just because they supported another candidate in the past. All are welcome.
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I just like to point out that a lot of Deval’s support from the Democratic machine here in Massachusetts (and it IS a machine) is about an inch deep. He may be the party’s nominee, but there are still a lot of powerful Democrats who I suspect would rather have Healy in the corner office.
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Why am I driven [Check out my post of 9/14/06] to point this out? Because I believe it’s important for all of us to understand the battle looming. Change is hard. Deval’s work is just beginning. I, for one, don’t see the Republicans as the enemy. I see the enemy in the entrenched system that is Massachusetts politics. Frankly, it’s largely Democratic. Is this blasphemy? Do I somehow play into the hands of Kerry Healy by saying this? I don’t think so. A lot of Healy’s support comes from people who are disgusted with the waste and inertia of our current system. They may not realize it yet, but if they want change, their best vote is a vote for Deval Patrick.
As for your question about where are the “Democratic power brokers,” I am not sure who you mean. My friend might be considered a “power broker”, but she gets her power from being able and willing to make thousands of phone calls to a lot of people in her district for her candidate. She has been doing the grass roots GOTV thing for years and has the respect of alot of elected officials for that reason. If you mean people like Michael Dukakis and Phil Johnston, well I think Gov. Dukakis was at the rally yesterday and Phil Johnston has been doing his part. If you mean the state legislature, I agree with you, Deval Patrick is going to have his work cut out for him, not so much because the legislature is full of power brokers, but because it is full of egos, who will all want to take credit for any changes or who will try to prevent the hard changes from occurring. Deval Patrick is only going to be successful after he is elected Governor if we all keep working with him to make sure the legislature remembers where Deval Patrick’s power comes from: us. The grass roots campaign cannot stop after November 7th. We all need to keep being the new “power brokers.”
I wasn’t referring to your friend as a “power broker”. I hope you understand that. I also wasn’t referring to Mike Dukakis as a power broker either. He hasn’t been one in quite some time. It’s true, however, that Phil Johnson has been a strong supporter.
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Where’s our Attorney General? Where’s Chris Gabrieli? Where’s the House and Senate leadership? Do you really not understand what I’m getting at, or are you just interested in talking about your friend who had her feelings hurt?
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I think we agree on one thing. The people ARE the power. I believe Massachusetts has lost sight of that fact. I believe Deval Patrick and Tim Murray are going to make great strides in refocusing our government on what the people want and need. But I take note of your well written comments and I will try to reign in some of my cynicism.
On Nov 7, if Patrick only gets the votes of every single person who voted for him in the Primary, he loses. It’s a good fact to remember for any “true believer” who sees themselves as superior to those who were supporting another candidate before Sept. 19.
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If you haven’t noticed with the sliding poll numbers, the General Election is another ballgame altogether, what works to win a convention or left-leaning Primary doesn’t have the same effect, new strategies and more people are needed…and it’s going to take all Democrats pulling together to win this…Rather than pushing people away, we should be welcoming them with open arms and a pat on the back…rather than waiting for them to call us, we should be reaching out to them to help them on-board.
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It’s time to put down the kool-aid (as sweet as it is) and get very, very serious about winning.
Did I come off sounding superior? I AM proud that I recognized the amazing opportunity we have here in Massachusetts quite some time ago. But that doesn’t make me superior. Smarter, maybe, but not superior.
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What’s wrong with Kool-Aid?
john law…you attempted to come off as smarter and superior and oh so ahead of the holier-than-thou curve…but you only succeeded at the third.
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By the way, kool-aid rots your teeth.
and every other Democrat who has stepped up for the Patrick/Murray ticket. Tim Murray has reached out to the Mayors, Selectman, DAs and law enforcement officials around the state who supported him in the primary and brought them on board this Victory train…we need them, we welcome them, we WILL WIN with their help, too.
Mayor Menino is a Democrat.
And it’s interesting that you mention Gabrieli. I was walking to Park St. station around 6PM yesterday after a few drinks at Remington’s. A freakishly tall guy walking with two normal sized children is coming up the path towards me, guess who? Yup, Gabbers.
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He was obviously enjoying some family time, so I just said hello and went about my business.
You said “The truth is that Tom Menino was doing everything in his power up to and including the primary to ensure that anyone other than Deval Patrick was the Democratic nominee.”
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That is awfully misleading. The truth is, was doing everything in his power to ensure that Tom Reilly was the nominee. Menino endorsed Reilly well over a year ago, and has been helping him since before he knew who Deval Patrick was. Suppose Reilly had won the nomination. I wouldn’t be criticizing Bryan Joyce for campaigning for Deval, and then switching to Reilly after the primary. That’s the way it works: you pick your favorite candidate in the primary, if he/she doesn’t win, you settle on whoever did win, knowing that they are still better than the Republican. Menino did absolutely nothing wrong here.
I didn’t say Menino did anything wrong. I just got a kick out of the reconstructive history spin. As for your stirring Reilly support statement, I was informed that Menino cleared the way for Gabrieli to be on the primary ballot by releasing delegates at the convention. Maybe that’s not true, but if it is, it sounds like someone who was doing whatever he could to ensure that Deval Patrick was not the Democratic nominee.
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But all are welcome. Victory in November! The hard work starts in January.
Where’s Gabrieli been? Actively supporting Patrick. Showing up on stage with him on primary night. Appearing at events supporting him. Sending email encouraging his supporters to support Patrick.
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Chris Gabrieli has some class, unlike that other candidate who has barely been heard from…
Didn’t know that. Hadn’t seen or heard from him (since primary night), but I’ll take your word for it. He does seem to be a classy guy.