I haven't followed the governor's race too closely, but I did catch the second gubernatorial debate held in Springfield, MA tonight. A few observations:
- Christy Mihos - What a jerk, that's the only word. He was canned from the MA Turnpike Authority by Gov. Mitt Romney a few years back, and Mihos is on a vendetta, What a misuse of the political process! Mihos - formerly a Republican- is running as an Independent, and thereby taking away votes from Healey. He'll never get enough votes to become governor, but he could take away enough from Healey to result in a win for Democrat Deval Patrick. Mihos' memorable quote tonight: "Massachusetts exists between incompetence and corruption." Oh please!
- Deval Patrick - Smoothie, glib, used almost every question he was asked to bring up the Big Dig (as if what went wrong with the project which began construction in 1991 was Romney's fault, governor since 2003). He's handsome and has a soft, reassuring voice. But I'm not seeing any substance there or governor material. Lots of cliches tonight: "Springfield needs to stand on its own two feet, Springfield isn't out of the woods yet." Not exactly keen insight. His background: Harvard Law School, NAACP lawyer, corporate lawyer, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Commission under Clinton, attorney for Coca-Cola, on BOD of Ameriquest. Great resume for continuing a legal career, but ZERO experience in anything like managing a corporation or state. Patrick has never run for or been elected to any public office. One memorable quote tonight: "Leadership is more important than the will of the people," said in response to Healey pointing out that Massachusetts voters have twice voted to repeal the income tax increase. Ummm, no, it's not, Deval. He also said that he's "tired of government by sound bite" and he wants to "govern for the long term, not just short term political sound bites." (Huh?) Sure talks a lot about sound bites for someone who doesn't like sound bites.
- Grace Ross - The radical community activist (Green/Rainbow Party) with a complete inability to look presentable. That is some seriously bad hair and dress. Sorry to be so trivial, but the sloppy appearance is distracting. Sorry, Gracey, I'm not taking you seriously as a candidate, nor do I think much of your socialist solutions. Solomonia has a good entry on the anti-Semitism of the Green Party here. Some skanky folks in that group.
- Kerry Healey - I thought she did pretty good tonight. If the debate were only between Healey and Patrick, the bland vagueness of Patrick's "plans" would be painfully obvious. She comes across (to me) as very smart, a good policy wonk and a capable politician who can work the system. She's got lots of facts and data at her fingertips. Unfortunately, she doesn't have much warmth and she doesn't appear to have any fire in her belly. She was the only candidate in her closing statement to ask people for their vote. I've been happy with Mitt as our governor, and I think Healey would do a very fine job too.
The Sunday Boston Globe had a front page article about a Globe/CBS poll last week showing Patrick with "commanding lead" over Healey, with 55% of voters supporting Patrick and 30% supporting Healey. (Mihos got 7% and Ross got 1%.) Correct me if I'm wrong, but a mere two-three weeks ago, Patrick had a 40% lead over Healey, which has dropped to a 25% lead. Hello! Think there's a story in that, Boston Globe??
Update: Oct.13, the gap narrows! Today's poll from Suffolk University/Channel 7 shows Patrick with 46% and Healey with 33%. Hmmm, Patricks lead has decreased from 40% to 13%. Hmmm, the percentage of undecided voters is 12%. Could be a much closer race than the Boston Globe thinks!
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