GOP’s blue-chippers emerge amid losses
By Howie Carr | Sunday, November 7, 2010 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
Cheer up Massachusetts Republicans. It could have been worse. Maybe not much worse, but it can always be worse.
But 2010 could have been a whole lot better, too. Sean Bielat was a great candidate. Imagine if he’d been campaigning on the North Shore against Johnny Pockets Tierney, or on the Cape against Bill Keating, who ran his campaign from the Witness Protection Program.
You’d be saying “Congressman-elect Sean Bielat.”
But Bielat ended up facing Barney Frank, with his extra-gerrymandered district and his $200,000 in personal funds.
Here’s another coulda-woulda-shoulda. Last January, a couple of days after Scott Brown’s victory, Charlie Baker sat down with two of the architects of Brown’s upset – Eric Fehrnstrom and Beth Myers. Charlie wanted a “download” of information.
Charlie already had his “team” in place, led by Rob Gray, whose resume includes the disastrous 2006 Muffy Healey race and Mitt Romney’s doomed 2004 effort to increase the GOP presence in the Legislature. Gray’s been running on Bill Weld’s fumes for years.
What if . . . Charlie had listened to Brown’s people and then said, “You know, maybe you guys oughta be running my campaign.” But he didn’t say that, and the Brown crew went to work instead for the Republican Governors Association.
What if . . . Charlie had figured out a way to use his running mate, Richie Tisei? He’s a good, veteran campaigner. But Tisei seemed to spend most of the fall trying (unsuccessfully) to help hold his own state Senate seat for the Republicans.
What if . . . Charlie had picked as his running mate Karyn Polito? Couldn’t have hurt him with women, could it? Usually the “gender gap” is a moonbat-media talking-point to bash Republicans with, but this year, in this state, Charlie Baker really had one.
What if . . . Mary Z. Connaughton had enough money to publicize Suzanne Bump’s Tim Geithner-like theory of paying taxes – namely, you don’t pay unless they catch you.
But enough of the recriminations. Let’s look at the small silver linings in the ominously large dark cloud. The GOP picked up 17 seats in the House, increasing their numbers (pending recounts) to 32. Nothing’s more local than a state rep’s fight, and the Republicans hunted down the weakest sheeple in Speaker DeLeo’s herd.
Unfortunately, in the Senate, the GOP will never get another perfect opportunity to eliminate the vivacious Therese Murray, who limped home with 52 percent of the vote. With redistricting about to begin, the Senate’s Miss Congeniality will dump Sandwich (hometown of her hard-working opponent) and the other Cape towns, after which she will annex most of Sen. Kennedy’s Brockton district. Tough luck, Tom.
Finally, Worcester County, where it was still Jan. 19 for the Republicans last Tuesday. They won the sheriff’s race, with a large assist from the Democrat, Tom Foley, who announced that he’d be keeping his $111,920.04 state pension in addition to the sheriff’s salary. The Worcester GOP held on to the outgoing reps’ seats, knocked off an incumbent rep and won the open Governor’s Council seat.
So it could have been worse. Thin gruel, I know, but the Republicans have been counted out before (think 1986) and somebody’s always come along to rebuild the party. Now comes the Rick Pitino question: Is there another Ray Shamie ready to walk through that door?
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1294590
Tim Cahill: Attacks ‘backfired’
Independent slams Republican strategy
By Jessica Fargen | Sunday, November 7, 2010 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Politics
In his first in-depth interview since his bruising loss for governor, Independent Tim Cahill yesterday denied playing spoiler to Charlie Baker, instead blaming the GOP for its own candidate’s defeat.
“The RGA did what they felt they had to do. It backfired on them,” he said of the Republican Governors Association, which spent a whopping $4.6 million on attack ads in Massachusetts.
“I’m not saying it didn’t hurt me, but it hurt their guy just as much,’’ a relaxed and introspective Cahill told the Herald as he raked leaves in the front yard of his Quincy home.
“I may not have ever been able to get any closer than I was even if they hadn’t been there, but their guy might have gotten closer than he got and maybe he would have won. I wasn’t in it to spoil anything.”
Cahill said the RGA misread the Massachusetts electorate after Republican Scott Brown’s election in January to the U.S. Senate. The heavy involvement of the national Republican Party turned off independent voters and drove them to Deval Patrick, he said. Patrick was re-elected as governor Tuesday, beating Baker by 8 points — the exact share of the vote Cahill received.
Baker last week in an e-mail to supporters blamed his loss, in part, on Cahill’s candidacy.
“I think the fact that Republicans got pretty badly beat everywhere points more to their strategy not working than me being a factor,’’ he said. “I was a factor because they made me a factor.”
A spokesman for the RGA could not be reached. A Baker campaign spokesman did not return a call and e-mail yesterday.
In a wide-ranging, hour-long interview, Cahill, the state’s treasurer, looked back on the wild final month of the campaign, during which his Republican running mate, Paul Loscocco, defected to Baker and Cahill filed a lawsuit that dragged both campaigns into the mud.
Cahill, who was a registered Democrat before he ran for governor, called the Loscocco shocker a “turning point.” On Oct. 1, fewer than two hours after phoning Cahill to let him know he was leaving, Loscocco and Baker appeared at a press conference.
“It was a very strange day. I won’t forget any moment of that day,” he said. “It was shocking.”
Voters and the media, he said, took a dim view.
“It cost the Baker people,” he said. “Whether it cost them the election, I don’t know, but it certainly slowed down any momentum they had.”
A week later, Cahill filed a lawsuit claiming four members of his own campaign staff conspired with Baker to leak secrets. Baker claimed e-mails made public in the lawsuit showed Cahill’s campaign staff was working with the treasury to run positive Lottery ads this fall.
The defection, including that of top Republican strategist John Weaver, was the ultimate “betrayal,” Cahill said. He acknowledged that the lawsuit ultimately helped Patrick, but that was not his intention.
While the RGA attack ads aimed at Cahill hurt his campaign, Cahill said he is to blame for his own loss.
“I’ll take responsibility for everything we did. I’ll take responsibility for bringing John Weaver in. Mistake. For partnering up with Paul Loscocco. Mistake. It hurt me no question about it. Nobody made me do it.”
Cahill, who has worked in government since the 1990s, said he plans to leave the public sector and won’t be running for office soon. He will remain an Independent, he said.
“I have no regrets,” he said. “Now is my opportunity to go out and look and see what’s out there.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1294589