Jay Gonzalez has been floating around the slogan Aim High. He has put it on his signs, his shirts, and uses the phrase repeatedly in his stump speech. Right off the bat I thought it sounded familiar but I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why and wrote it off as maybe based on Michelle Obamas “When they go low, we go high”. ButI was watching old campaign ads and came across a very interesting one from Charlie Baker, so I cut together this quick video. Take a look:
I thought people calling Jay “Little Charlie” was over the top but this is pretty interesting.
Please share widely!
Frank says
LMAO #LittleCharlie
But isn’t it weird that they were both healthcare CEOs?
Christopher says
And both Secretaries of A&F, right? I’ve heard from some Gonzalez supporters that they see the similar resumes as a positive so we can compare apples to apples in how they handled those jobs.
doubleman says
I think that pitch for Gonzalez is probably the worst one he could lean on. No one knows or cares what happened when each was at A&F. If there wasn’t a major major scandal during their leadership of the office, no one gives a crap. If a true apples to apples comparison would require hours and hours of research (because certainly the Globe isn’t going to provide a neat, distilled comparison and put it on the front page) by an individual voter, it’s not going to happen.
Christopher says
I’m not with Gonzalez in this round, but I get the sense supporters want to hear in debates their different ways of handling those jobs. For one thing Baker has the Big Dig to answer for.
doubleman says
The Big Dig will 100% not be a factor in this election.
I like Bob Massie, but I wonder about supporting him now. With only $10,000 left in the bank, campaign defections, and some not great feelings from former staffers from what I’ve heard, is he really the one to back? He’d need to win the primary and suddenly raise about $5M in less than a month to have a chance.
AWorriedMom says
If Massie wins the primary, his campaign’s GOTV efforts would be helped by the fact that Liz Warren’s name is on the ballot. When she first ran, she got 600,000 more votes than Charlie Baker did when he ran. All those Dems flooding the polls in Nov will help Massie beat Baker.
doubleman says
Warren ran in a Presidential election year, it was her first run, and there was a lot of energy to take the seat back from Brown. That’s wildly different than this year in which her race and the Governor’s race are not considered competitive. There may be a “flood” as a way for Dems to feel like they are doing something against Trump, but I don’t think this is going to be a big turnout year in MA. The long time trend of nearly every major Dem in MA praising Baker isn’t going to help that turnout. The other trend of MA press not covering the race and not covering the problems of the Baker administration will also hurt turnout. And on that point, I’m sure the press will honor Baker’s ridiculous request to lay off the story about his son. Massive privilege in action right there.
CassandraTheProphet says
Young Baker grabs a woman’s breast on an airplane, and he’s not arrested? This is “a family matter?” Is that because the woman was his mother? Why has no complaint been filed with the police – or against the airline?
Christopher says
How is it the airline’s fault that one of their passengers can’t keep his hands to himself? I actually don’t think this needs to be more than a one-day story since it is about a family member who is not himself a public official. If His Excellency himself were accused of this it would be a different, and bigger, story.
AWorriedMom says
Re: Massie having $10,000 in the bank:
Keep in mind that because of the mandatory OCPF “depository” reporting system for state-wide (and certain other) candidates, there is an automatic “snapshot” of each campaign posted about 3-5 days after the 15th and 30th/31st of every month. These can be quite misleading. Most large campaigns – Bob’s certainly included, I’ve looked at this – have major fixed monthly payments (rent, salaries &c) that get paid monthly, and sometimes the monthly disbursement date(s) will come in just ahead of the reporting cut-off, and before very recent contributions have been posted by the bank – or even deposited. To get a truer picture, one must look at – at the very least – both reports for each month.
Charley on the MTA says
Would that Baker aimed particularly high …
“Aim even higher!”
DiogenesTheCynic says
Thanks for this, Howard Parker. Great research! It’s the most entertainment I’ve had all week. I’ll be remembering this and chuckling when I happily vote for Bob Massie in September.
AWorriedMom says
Gubernatorial candidate Bob Massie is recognized by the media as the progressive with no ties to Beacon Hill while Jay Gonzalez is seen as a centrist insider.
In this political climate, the advantage is clearly with the progressive outsider who cannot be blamed for any part of Beacon Hill’s failure to govern on behalf of the people.
Jay Gonzalez served as Secretary of Administration and Finance under Governor Patrick, and is using that as the basis of his campaign. He touts his experience but makes no mention of the mistakes made during the Patrick Administration or how Governor Baker would tie him to them in the general election if he is the nominee.
During the Patrick Administration, Massachusetts switched from Romneycare to Obamacare. In order to meet new federal requirements, the Health Connector (where residents enroll in healthcareoverage) was revised. Jay Gonzalez served as chair of the Health Connector. Catastrophic mistakes were made, costing Massachusetts $135 million and leaving thousands of people without health insurance. Governor Baker served as Secretary of Administration and Finance under Governor Weld, and has expertise at his fingertips to lay the blame for the Health Connector disaster at the feet of Jay Gonzalez.
Additionally, Governor Baker will blame Jay Gonzalez for the $750 million budget deficit he inherited from Governor Patrick.
Last, the continued terrible conditions of our public transportation system in greater Boston, the MBTA, are one of the strongest arguments we have against Governor Baker. If Jay Gonzalez is the nominee, the condition of the MBTA when Governor Baker took office will take that argument away from the Democrats.
Democrats are increasingly aware that these vulnerabilities mean they need to go with a nominee with no political baggage and no ties to Beacon Hill, Bob Massie.
hesterprynne says
If I’m remembering right, Baker’s slogan in his unsuccessful 2010 run was — “Had enough?” Fits the moment better for lots of us.
jconway says
I’m undecided on this race, but the rush to go negative by new posters obviously affiliated with Massie is not a good look. Neither was his treatment of Mara Dolan, a committed progressive activist who gave up a good position to help him before he rudely and publicly showed her the door. Progressive Massachusetts, which endorsed Gonzalez, is not made up of centrist insiders. Neither is Tommy Vitolo. Neither is John May or Jonathan Cohn. If this is how the Massie campaign wants to convince undecideds, it isn’t working. I like Bob better on climate change, cooperatives, and health care. I am starting to dislike the manner in which he and his supporters are campaigning.
Christopher says
I’ve never had much patience for the spitting contests over who is the purer progressive. I believe it was ORMA that said it would endorse Massie or nobody in this race, which I didn’t like. I’m with Massie now because even when I was still with Setti Warren I was impressed with the work he had put into comprehensive policy proposals and I am attracted to candidates who have done their homework. I’m not aware of the incident involving Mara Dolan. I would like to invite AWorriedMom to post an original diary about why she supports Massie.
jconway says
The Globe gives an impartial account and he apologized for his remarks the same day,
jconway says
To wit, I like him better on policy but am starting to question how serious he is about running his campaign. Firing staffers, not raising money, and barely qualifying to make the convention ballot when many thought he might get the endorsement are not good indicators of strength. There are local electeds and delegates I know who were ready to endorse him that he never called back.
If the goal of his campaign is about raising issues and making a point, he is doing a good job, if it’s about becoming the nominee who can beat Baker, I am starting to have doubts. Happy to hear from Massie people about why they feel differently, ideally without making it a progressive purity pissing contest with Jay.
Christopher says
I assume you mean barely qualifying to make the primary ballot rather than the convention ballot? If so, you have an interesting definition of “barely”. He got twice as many votes as he needed for that though I too thought the race would be closer.
jconway says
30% in a two person race is not particularly impressive when Massie’s supporters are claiming he is the only genuine progressive in the race and has grassroots momentum. Again, I say to his supporters, make the case for why he is the better candidate for beating Baker rather than tearing Jay down.
I agree with another poster that the Patrick administration experience is a liability and Jay needs to do more to separate himself from the Democratic establishment, but to challenge his progressive credentials seems out of character for the Massie campaign so far. Surprised to see so many new posters here doing that dirty work.
Christopher says
You’re not talking to me then, for the most part. I do see Patrick connections as a net positive though. I have not torn Gonzalez down, but you also won’t get the better for beating Baker diary from me. That’s not how I choose candidates. I go with the person I most prefer to BE Governor, not run for it.