As Adam Reilly has pointed out, there’s a marked contrast between the websites of Republican candidates for Governor Christy Mihos and Charlie Baker. Since news of Kennedy’s death broke, Mihos’s regular campaign website has been replaced by a message of condolence to the Kennedy family. Baker’s, on the other hand, still plays that same dreadful video that went up when the campaign launched several weeks ago. (Can they at least turn off the auto-play??)
Thinking that, perhaps, Baker had at least twittered something Kennedy-related, I checked out the campaign’s Twitter page. Nothing. The only twit posted after news of Kennedy’s death broke early Wednesday morning reports that Baker is in Ohio watching his son start college. [Update, 6:15 pm: There is now a twit referring to the Facebook note discussed below, though there’s no link.]
I can’t see what’s on Baker’s Facebook page, since we’re not Facebook friends. (Note to Baker campaign staff: if you’re planning to use Facebook as a campaign tool, set the privacy settings so that anyone can see the page.) But there’s nothing on the group page.
UPDATE: However, Baker has posted a note on his Facebook account that, it turns out, you can read without being his “friend.” HT EaBo, who apparently is among the select few. Excerpt:
no one who spent time in state government or in health care in Massachusetts over the past 40 years could have avoided him completely. He was an enormous part of the policy fabric for almost half a century.
As a result, I have two stories about him that I think do a pretty good job of illustrating his operating style and his influence…. [The two stories follow.]
The personal touch he brought to politics and to policy making – played out during the many many years he served in the U.S. Senate – really did make a difference – to his colleagues and his constituents. And whether one agreed with Kennedy’s agenda or not, his personal enthusiasm for the task at hand clearly represented one of the key factors to his success.
Whomever wins the run-off election has some big shoes to fill.
It’s not like Republicans around the country and here in MA have had nothing to say about Ted Kennedy. And especially around here, you’d think that a Republican running for the state’s highest office would at least say something nice about all that Kennedy did for Massachusetts — whether you liked his politics or not, you can’t pretend that he didn’t work hard for his constituents.
Nothing, Charlie? Really? [Update: as noted above, Baker posted a Facebook note.]
This says a lot about the two G.o.p. CONTENDERS when it comes to professionalism. I know that Christy is a neighbor of Kennedy’s and knows when its time to politic and when its not. Apparently, Charlie and his advisors don’t appreciate this fact, and it is most unfortunate. George Bush himself is on his way to the funeral, and yet Charlie Baker is still running his web campaign like it’s business as usual. What a difference between the two Republican contenders for the 2010 nomination. In fact, I just went to my Rasmussen account and confirmed what I had read. In a general election, Mihos got more Democratic votes than did Baker. It’s becoming more and more clear that Mihos could indeed be a greater, populist threat to the Democratic nominee.
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p>What I’ve heard from key G.O.P. operatives is that Baker is mulling a change to the U.S. Senate race. It’s a smart move. The KEY ISSUE will be the health care debate, and as a guy who ran an HMO, his credentials could make him quite the contender in the debates. I can see even CNN giving him a lot of play. Don’t be surprised if Baker is in that race within the week and we should be prepared accordingly. The Senate is a better fit for Charlie Baker. Right now, Baker’s in the wrong race.
Baker site is tactless. Clueless.
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p>Patrick site is not much better.
Huh? As of right now, here’s what’s at the Gov’s official page:
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Campaign Pages David
That thing has been basically dormant for ages. The whole “My Issue” thing was an epic fail, and for months if not years it has been little more than a dumping ground for the occasional press release. I doubt anyone in the Governor’s office has looked at it in a very long time. I agree that it should be updated (or, better yet, shut down and completely redesigned), but it’s hardly a fair comparison to stack DP.com up against Baker’s and Mihos’s active campaign sites.
Like I said, a dumping ground for occasional press releases. But it’s pretty obvious that there hasn’t been any significant attention paid to that site in a long, long time.
for whatever reason. Even when they put a lot of effort into the web site and pushed to get issues posted. I don’t know if it was too real for people when they confirmed your name and address when signing up. You are right, it’s been fairly dormant for a while now. But even with that DP still managed to have a Kennedy statement posted on the front page, unlike Baker.
just a silly tweak,and not worth a front page post from you.
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p>And FYI Charlie Baker did get back from seeing his kid off to college and post a very moving entry on his facebook page.
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David, did you and Charlie not play well together in Governor Weld’s office?
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p>You can read Charlie’s statement here. Perhaps he put his full attention into his son’s big day, rather than pontificating for cheap political points, on the passing of Ted Kennedy right away. It’s kind of amazing how these deaths work. It sometimes seems like a game of who can issue a statement first.
I never would have found it without being pointed to it — it’s not exactly obvious. I’ve updated the post.