WGBH:
Rep. Mike Capuano announced Thursday he will not run for Massachusetts governor, through a statement released by a spokesperson.
“After taking time to reflect with my family, I have decided that I will not be a candidate for Governor in 2014,” the statement read. “I am truly touched by the support and encouragement I received throughout this process, but believe that I can best serve the Commonwealth in Congress. I will continue to be a strong voice for progressive policies in Washington.”
Very interesting – and, to me at least, surprising. I’m hard-pressed to believe that the recent poll showing him well behind Martha Coakley had much to do with it, since it’s way too early to worry about horserace numbers. Still, one can hardly fault the guy for choosing to keep a (pretty much) sure-thing awesome job over a high-risk shot at becoming Governor.
Anyway, I’ve heard speculation that Joe Curtatone, the Mayor of Somerville, would jump in if Capuano didn’t, so look for him as another possible candidate in a crowded and quite interesting field. And remember: the caucuses are only a few months away!
Such that if the House switches back to Democrat control some time this decade, he will be in a position to strongly effect national policy?
He also has the advantage of being considered the most senior of those first elected in 1998 because rank is alphabetically by last name for those elected together. He is not currently a Ranking Member.
I would not know where to look this up. Thanks again.
He is a ranking member on the Housing Subcommittee of the Financial Services Committee.
I think the list I was looking at included only full standing committees.
You mean Democratic control no?
Someday, someone should have a posting that says:
1) This is when you say “Democrat“.
2) This is when you say “Democratic“.
3) This is when you say “Republican”
4) This is when you say “Sole Sucking Ass Wipes“.
Etc. Etc.
I originally typed “control by the Democrats” and I thought that was too padantic! So I rewrote it to the form as above.
BECAUSE:
When I proof-read, my primary focus is not to end a sentence with a preposition and not to be too wordy, unless I am doing it as an affectation.
When using the word as a noun, it’s Democrat. Ie. “I’m a Democrat.” “Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts.” “Are you a Democrat?” “Are the Democrats in control?”
When using the word descriptively, it’s Democratic. Ie. “The Democratic Party.” “Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic nominee.” “The Democratic bill.” “Democratic control.”
I hope that’s simple, anyway. 🙂
You mean pedantic?
/ducks
Re: Curtatonoe, Congress would have been an easier call for him, because he could (almost) walk into it. Governor is a much taller order for him; he’d have to really catch fire, and I’m not convinced he can do that, in time.
For me, as of now … go Grossman.
Sometimes being new to the populace at large can actually be an asset, but there’s a lot of “ifs” that need to happen, like the ability to raise the money necessary to keep the campaign credible until it ‘catches fire’ and really smart people, who can build a great field organization and who understand communications, to help ignite it.
At the very least, though, Curtatonoe does have a compelling story in how well Somerville’s done under his leadership. So he’s not starting from zero, but there’d have to be a lot of catch-up given that not only is he not well known around the state, but he’d be announcing later than most of the field.
Extension surely helps him get a bigger profile. He was a huge cheerleader. I’d say he could walk into LG, but Gov would be harder at this point though not insurmountable. Also Deval had a big head start-I was campaigning for him as early as summer 2005.
Curtatone’s January Finance Report is at more than $100K. You can check it out here. He’s got a lot of out of town support due to all the construction at Assembly. A lot of happy contractors. He’s done a lot of progressive stuff to improve Somerville, like all his complete streets/transportation infrastructure. Also Shape Up Somerville was a model program for Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Campaign. He travels a lot and has a lot of friends in other places that might throw into his campaign. Curtatone is also active with the Metro Mayors Coalition (MA group) and Mayors Against Illegal Guns (national group).
Curtatone thinks long-term and big picture, so I think he may be a good gubernatorial candidate given his history in Somerville. But some folks like to write scathing things about him, like the Weekly Dig.
…is facing a huge land mine re. the soccer camp rape, which will almost certainly preclude him from trying for higher office in this cycle. The last thing he needs politically right now is heightened scrutiny.
While Sommerville officials have been patting themselves on the back for reporting this horrible crime after being approached by a parent the day after people came back from the camp, there have been rumblings & under-reported indications that adults at the camp knew something had happened while still at the camp that weekend and didn’t act. From the Sommerville Journal:
I think this is digging pretty deep.
I see no relationship whatsoever between this episode and a possible campaign by Joe Curtatone.
None.
I don’t think that this will follow him negatively. He’s very active and involved and a lot of work was done with the schools when classes resumed. He handled it well and this kind of BS happens in everyone town, unfortunately.
Curtatone has a huge focus on kids and youth in Somerville. He’s very focused on school sports and arts (was football coach even as Mayor), has put a lot of energy into the town’s boxing club (almost the only thing the Rec Dept. focuses on) and also has brought some terrific music and arts programs to the schools, like El Sistema. He also supports a summer youth jobs program. He could do more, but he’s done a lot more than most cities.
Cappy is my blue-collar warrior. I should be happy that he is still my US Rep. I swoon with visions of his pragmatic governorship though. He is the antithesis of Mr. Slick Pol.