Very much true, but no one said it would be easy. It's practically to the point there as where the southern states were in the 1940s or 50s (minus the Governors).
"Weld never took the job seriously and now he's off in the private sector out of state."
But he sure as hell took seriously in driving conservatives (whom he hated more than Democrats) out of the party apparatus, inflicting more damage in his 6 years in office than the Dems did in 25 previous years. Mike Dukakis did more for the state GOP than Weld ever did. We can also thank Weld for helping reelect Ted Kennedy over Mitt Romney in '94 (he was a spotlight whore, didn't want it shifting to Mitt -- exactly the kind of person you DON'T want leading a party. We need team players !).
"Celucci left half-way through his term to become Bush's ambassador to Canada."
He didn't want to put in the hard work of party-building, either (especially seeing the legislative numbers sinking to unprecedented lows). It's unlikely he would've won an election outright had the Dems not put up that extremist zealot Harshbarger.
"Swift is an incompetent benchwarmer in way over her head."
She should've been elected to Congress over that Socialist John Olver, instead. She's also similarly done zilch for party-building and had petty vendettas like her predecessor Weld and would have no qualms endorsing Democrats in races where we could win.
"Romney looks like the kind of guy whose executive experince could really turn things around for the party. Unfortunately he also looks like the kind of guy who could be very appealing on the national scene as well, leaving us back at square one once he departs for greener pastures."
An accurate assessment. I'm not sure he realizes just how truly bad a shape the state party is in and how much he's going to enjoy working with a VERY hostile legislature that was counting on Shannon O'Brien to be sitting in the exec. This is why he would've been better off as a Senator serving in his 2nd term now (thanks again to Weld).
"The good news is, that even if Romney leaves, we should keep winning the governor's seat so long as the dems continue to run charisma-challenged party hacks like O'Brien."
Ah, but here's the bad news. Romney picked a HORRIBLE running mate. Kerry Healey is Jane Swift WITHOUT the political experience (she wasn't even capable of winning her own state rep. seat, unlike Swifty). Jim Rappaport would've been a smashing addition to the ticket, and he had the experience, the bucks, and the INTEREST in party building. Seeing Jim get the shaft has not led me to put a whole lot of faith in Romney... If Romney does leave for greener pastures, the Dems WILL crush Healey like an elephant on top of a paper cup, even with your hackiest-hack Dem opponent.