Howie’s Sunday Herald column
Rudy looks to get his Mitts on Mass. votes
By Howie Carr | Sunday, November 11, 2007 | http://www.bostonherald.com
Two questions about the proposed move of the Massachusetts presidential primary from March 4 to Super Tuesday on Feb. 5.
No. 1: Can Gov. Deval Patrick remobilize the moonbats to carry the state for his candidate, Barack Obama? (Probably, unless he lets Felix Arroyo handle the organizational work.)
No. 2: Could Mitt Romney pull an Al Gore and lose his home state? (Probably not, but this primary could be the latest, and the way things are going around here, maybe even the last Mass. GOP “shootout in the lifeboat.”)
Of course, the candidates themselves aren’t going to be spending much time in these parts after the New Hampshire primary. They’ll be crisscrossing the big states that also vote on Feb. 5 - California, New York, New Jersey, among 23 in all.
Mitt’s got the support of most of the local Republican machines, if that’s not an oxymoron nowadays - three sheriffs, three district attorneys, new star Jim Ogonowski (he lost of course, but not by much, and it doesn’t take much to shine in the Mass. Republican firmament these days). Mitt also has all but one of the state reps and two of the five GOP senators (that’s right, there are only five left, and Rudy has the other three).
More importantly, perhaps, Mayor Giuliani is supported by a pair of faded bright lights, former treasurer Joe Malone and ex-Gov. Paul Cellucci. Besides their Italian-American heritage, Rudy and Cellucci have at least one other thing in common: poor choices in campaign drivers. You know about Bernie Kerik, the now-indicted ex-New York City police commissioner. But Cellucci has also been embarrassed by his erstwhile wheelman - do you recall one Anthony Dichio? He was a state trooper and, after George Bush became president, Cellucci wangled a nice appointment for Dichio as U.S. marshal, at least until it turned out Dichio was working about as often as Santa Claus.
For the record, one other prominent Bay State Republican does not support Mitt. That would be former Gov. Jane Swift, who is backing Sen. John McCain. But then, Jane has always did have a thing for older men.
Mitt Romney is currently up by double digits in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states to vote, and he’s also ahead in Michigan. South Carolina is a tossup. Rudy leads only in Nevada, a caucus state.
So by the time Super Tuesday rolls around, the Romney scenario calls for winless McCain to be assuming room temperature. As for Fred Thompson, well, as Curtis Mayfield once said, “Freddie’s dead.” He’s got to win South Carolina, but - like McCain - he has no money. So the theory is that in Massachusetts, as everywhere else on Super Tuesday, the Republican race will be reduced to a two-man fight: Romney vs. Rudy.
But even if the presidential primaries are anticlimactic here, the taxpayers have at least 200,000 reasons for holding the election on Super Tuesday. That’s how much money the state can save by simultaneously running five “special” elections for vacancies in the legislature, not that anyone will ever miss any of the nonentities who are departing the General Court.
Two hacks got cabinet jobs from Deval Patrick, one inheriting the sergeant-at-arms job from the late Money Fitz, not to mention the top hat and the large stick that goes with it. A fourth vacancy was created by the election of Rep. Bob Correia as mayor of Fall River. The voters apparently were looking for a fresh face - a fresh 68-year-old face. Correia’s nickname now changes from “Deputy Dawg” to “Top Dawg.”
The fifth vacancy will be created Tuesday by whichever state rep wins the primary to succeed Sen. Bob Havern of Arlington. My money’s on Jim Marzilli, a moonbat’s moonbat. He’s running against Charley Murphy, who faces what may now be an insurmountable problem in Massachusetts. He’s an ex-Marine. I just don’t see a heavy Leatherneck vote mobilizing out in Lexington.
Marine vs. moonbat. It’s a no-brainer in this state. Which is probably why Barack has a fighting chance, too - at least here in the Hub of the Moonbat Universe.
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