State Political Profile: Massachusetts
Governor
Gov. Mitt Romney's decision not to seek a second term not only raised the specter of a 2008 presidential campaign for him, but it also created a wide-open race to succeed him. Democrats sensed their best chance to win the corner office since Michael Dukakis last stepped out the door in 1991, but recent events brought that assumption into doubt.
Romneys running mate, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, announced in early February her plans to succeed him. As did Romney and his GOP gubernatorial predecessors William F. Weld and Paul Cellucci, Healey planned to run on a ticket with another Republican, possibly including U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan or state Sen. Scott Brown of Wrentham.
While relatively new to politicking, Healey, a former criminal justice analyst, has shown a deft touch at cultivating local officials, tirelessly traveling the state, first to deliver bad news about local aid cuts but more recently, thanks to budget surpluses, a restoration of state support for cities and towns. She and her husband, Sean, also enjoy immense personal wealth, with Sean Healey, a private investment manager, recently unloading over $13 million in stock options in a move viewed as generating the necessary funds for the couple to finance whatever portion of Healey's race is necessary.
Romney, the new chairman of the Republican Governors Association, is also expected to work heartily for Healey and whomever she selects as her running mate, possibly out of fear he would suffer slings and arrows if he ran for president in 2008 at a time when Democrats controlled the Massachusetts Statehouse.
On the Democratic side, Attorney General Tom Reilly was viewed as the party's best hope for regaining the governor's office since Dukakis. He entered the year with $3.7 million in the bank, the most for any statewide official entering an election year, and he also enjoyed his reputation as a gray-templed straight shooter.
No sooner than the election year had started, though, did Reilly suffer a double-whammy. First, after more than a week of intense media scrutiny, he acknowledged calling a district attorney investigating a car crash that killed the daughters of a contributor after talking with a major fundraiser who lived next door to the girls who were killed.
Reilly denied trying to influence the investigation, saying he was trying to spare the family the public release of information about the girls level of intoxication at the time of their deaths. But the local police chief investigating the girls' movements before the crash labeled Reilly's call to Worcester District Attorney John Conte as "unusual". And in the aftermath, Conte decided not to support the police chief in his call for charges under the states new social-host law.
The decision triggered hearty debate on Boston-area talk radio. A couple weeks after Conte announced his decision, the 75-year-old also announced that he would not seek re-election, a reversal of his prior statements on the subject.
No sooner had that controversy died down than Reilly tried to regain momentum for his campaign with a heartfelt return to his hometown of Springfield for his official campaign announcement. It highlighted his youth as the youngest son of Irish immigrants, whose family suffered the death not only of his father, but of two of his elder brothers. Reilly overcame those challenges to make it into college, then law school and, today, to rise to the rank of the states chief law enforcement officer.
Attempting to build on the positive coverage, Reilly decided to steal a page from the Republican playbook and announce his own running mate. In Massachusetts, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run separately through the September primary, before being automatically paired by party on the general election ballot, but Republican gubernatorial candidates have anointed the winning lieutenant governor candidate by announcing their preference for a "running mate".
Reilly appeared poised to select Chris Gabrieli, a wealthy investment banker who now works on educational issues. But at the last minute, following entreaties by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and former Suffolk District Attorney Ralph Martin, a close friend of Reilly's, the attorney general announced he was teaming up with a little-know state representative, Marie St. Fleur. The Dorchester Democrat is the states first Haitian-American to serve in the Legislature.
Reilly said that the childhoods lived by him and St. Fleur would allow them to connect with the lives of average Massachusetts residents, but he was thunderstruck by what happened in the hours after his announcement. The Boston Globe, the day after Reilly made his pick, revealed that St. Fleur faced a $12,700 IRS lien on her home for unpaid federal taxes, and also had $40,000 in delinquent student loans. Later that day, The Associated Press reported she also could not renew her drivers license because of unpaid motor vehicle excise taxes in the City of Boston.
The disclosures renewed the talk-radio criticism of Reilly and later that same day, after barely 27 hours as a candidate, St. Fleur announced she was dropping out of the lieutenant governor's race. Reilly told reporters at a news conference the following day he would not seek a running mate.
Amid the tumult faced by Reilly, the third major candidate for governor, Democrat Deval Patrick, revealed that he, too, had once had an IRS lien placed on his home. It occurred in 1996, while he was head of the U.S. Department of Justices Civil Rights Division, after he and his wife missed at least one payment on an unexpected tax obiligation incurred in 1993. After the lien was placed on the property, the Patricks paid it off in seven months.
Patrick started the race well behind Reilly, but his steady demeanor and Reilly's problems have prompted many Massachusetts Democrats to give him a deeper look. He scored surprisingly well in early February caucuses to select delegates to the state Democratic convention in June, and he enjoys the support of some high-profile Democrats such as Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.
The Democrats could also see their fortunes boosted if Christy Mihos, a wealthy convenience store owner, makes good on his pledge to run in the gubernatorial race. He has to decide whether to run as a Republican or an independent. Were he to do the latter, he would likely siphon votes from Healey, who is more moderate than some state Republicans who previously voted for Romney. That may explain why Healey offered to guarantee Mihos enough votes at the Republican state convention to ensure he was on the September ballot; if she were able to dispatch with him then, she would have a head-to-head face-off with the Democrats in the fall, rather than a three-way race.
U.S. Senate
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the liberal lion of the U.S. Senate, is up for re-election this year, but he may not have an opponent for the first time in his career.
Republicans desperately tried to recruit Mihos to run against Kennedy, but he declined. And with a relatively thin bench in Massachusetts, state Republicans have had trouble finding even an up-and-comer to make a longshot campaign against Kennedy, as Joe Malone did unsuccessfully before going on to win the state Treasurers office.
Kennedy started with year with $8.7 million in the bank and the prospect of raising millions more, further enhancing his stature against any Republican challenger.
U.S. House
Massachusetts has a 10-member, all Democratic delegation, none of whom faces a serious re-election
-- Associated Press
