How did Massachusetts elect a right-winger like Romney ??

[kentuck]

I heard him speak on C-SPAN today. He sounds like a wingnut. He was praising George Bush and bragging about all the changes he had made in the government of Massachusetts. I guess he's running for president?

[MojoXN]

1. Simply put?

Voter fraud. But you can pronounce it "Frowd" if you like. Go New England!

MojoXN

[tritsofme]

13. That's right!

A Republican won an election, so it must have been fraud!

We Democrats are infallible and are not capable of losing unless there was fraud!

[CTLawGuy]

22. yes don't you know the 1984 election was stolen

:crazy:

[BlueManDude]

2. Tom Finneran.

It's a long story.

[liberaliraqvet26]

3. he ran as...

a so called "MODERATE"

[kentuck]

4. Welcome !

from a Vietnam Vet.

[liberaliraqvet26]

5. THANKS!!!

[liberalpragmatist]

12. Yeah, WELCOME!

Great to have someone like you on DU.

Please don't let some posters turn you off. A big spectrum of the left is represented here. And some are quite vocal. There are some nutcases here. And there are some who will tar all the soldiers with a big brush. It's by not means all or even most of us - just some. PLEASE don't let them get to you. If anything, you should confront them. There will be plenty of DU'ers to back you up.

We are a passionate group of people. That passion may lead you into arguments. But it's a source of strength.

There are a lot of cool people here, too. Best wishes! And I hope everyone in your unit is safe. I hope they can all be home soon and I wish there families best of luck!

[paineinthearse]

7. liberaliraqvet26

Welcome to DU

:hi:

[Awsi Dooger]

6. That was one major gov race that defied the recent trend

Once the economy tanked under Bush, almost every open gov race has switched to the party that had not previously held the gov chair. It's really been incredibly predictable. Huge percentage in 2002. Without an incumbent to state his/her case, the voters have unleashed wrath on the party they associate with the gov position most recently. That's why I think it's unfair when DUers criticize Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and a few other specific Democrats for losing that year.

Massachusetts, on the other hand, should have been ours via that criteria. Shannon O'Brien was criticized for her debate performances but I thought she did OK. After that election, I scanned the Massachusetts online papers for rationale and they pointed to the New Hampshire gov race. The Democrat in that race had a proposal to raise taxes which his opponent (who we ousted in 2004) jumped all over in TV commercials. Supposedly, the New Hampshire TV commercials and coverage of that race bled into Massachusetts and created a tax hike fear that doomed O'Brien. One online paper said taxes as an issue in the Massachusetts race jumped in huge proportion late in the race according to polling, and O'Brien's fortunes sunk as a result.

[Cha]

11. Interesting! I wonder if

Massachusettians wish they had O'Brien now?

[Awsi Dooger]

17. Undoubtedly

Or one of the many Democrats who vied for that post. We had a very crowded primary field including Robert Reich from Clinton's cabinet.

I'm surprised that gov voting trend hasn't received more attention. It carried over to 2004 and explains why you have weird takeovers like the GOP running Maryland and Hawaii while Democrats hold the governorships in Tennessee, Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming and Arizona.

[Cha]

18. I noticed how very

strange it was..but with everything else going on who has time for much else:o

So it's "let's give the opposite party a chance" theory?

[Awsi Dooger]

20. Or the "we're pissed off and you take the blame" theory

I forget the exact number but in 2002 I think it was something like 22 out of 24. Really remarkable.

The outgoing governors had extremely low approval ratings in most cases and no way voters were going to approve someone they associated with the outgoing governor. That's why, in retrospect, it was a mistake to nominate so many lieutenant governors like Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in Maryland and Mazie Hirono in Hawaii. Those two states had not fielded GOP governors in roughly 40 years but the Democratic nominees were directly associated with former governors who the voters abhorred.

Of course, the situation is likely a short term trend and only unfolded due to Bush's crappy economy, especially after the prosperity of Clinton's second term and voters taking for granted it would continue. When it did not they had to take it out on someone. 9/11 and national security dominated the senate elections but state economy was the focus in gov races.

[Cha]

21. I personally hope Hawaii

has an excellent Democratic nominee in 2006 cause I'm moving back there in 2007 and want it out of bushreicher hands.

Thanks for this analysis, Awsi.

[Awsi Dooger]

23. Awesome zidzi; I hope to make it to Hawaii sometime (fairly) soon

That's still the only state I'm missing. Just finished my second trek to Alaska but never set foot on the islands. Had a mutual breakup up with a college girlfriend on the brink of a visit to meet her parents, if you can believe that! According to Lounge polls almost everyone else with 49 of 50 has it the more sensible other way around, never visiting Alaska.

Dumping Empress Lingle is on my priority list for 2006. Last time our top tier candidates fell out one by one. I'll have to start checking out the Hawaii online papers to see how the field shapes up for next year.

[Cha]

24. Do "her parents" live

on Hawaii?

I lived on Kauai from '92 to '98 and it was totally brilliant!

Next time it's going to be the Big Island, where I have never been but so looking forward to. Don't like the upstate New York winters and it doesn't have the Pacific!

[Awsi Dooger]

26. Yes, I think on the Big Island

I know she went to a major high school. We have remained friends. But now she's a bigleague Clinton-hating Republican compliments of the politics of the guy she married.

[Cha]

29. Poor thing!

Big Bad Big Dog!

[Lexingtonian]

8. oh, he's gone all wingnut in the past year or so

He ran as a moderate, and against the corrupt Old Democrats in the state legislature who actually ran the place at the time. In 2002 the state was hit pretty badly economically because most of the blue collar defense company jobs were 'outsourced' to Tucson and other Red State cities and the computer and software industry- on which the state depended far too much- crashed hard. The Democrat who ran against Romney refused to understand that the only issue on which the whole governor race turned was income taxes- it was really sad to watch (I did a lot of screaming at the TV set at the time, watching the debates). The state ran a bad deficit. All the Undecided voters voted for Romney- he promised not to raise taxes (which they suspected Finneran of planning) and not to screw with social laws, and that was enough.

Federal prosecutors looking at state House redistricting got Tom Finneran out as House Speaker late last year- and Democrats rejoiced a lot more than Republicans did.

The state legislature (Dems have 80% of each chamber) has fully overpowered Romney since- the stem cell bill, the state budget, and so on. Romney is basically locked out. Massachusetts voters have zero problem with this, as far as I can tell.

And so we're seeing Romney giving up on anything in the state except for building up an image on which a Utah Mormon businessman can run for President.

[Dagaz]

9. Shannon O'Brien is an airhead

My Mom lives in Mass and voted Dem but couldn't vote for O'Brien. The Dems F*c'd up in not running a competent candidate. Someone like Marty Meehan should run next time. Then when Kennedy retires he runs for Senate.

[FrenchieCat]

10. Watch out for Romney.....

He may surprise some folks and rise to become the GOP Nominee. He's got what the GOP is looking for; an image!

[RUMPLEMINTZ]

14. Rethugs ain't

gonna nominate a Mormon.

[tritsofme]

16. If the other choices are Guiliani and McCain they might

But if Santorum or George Allen are in the mix the fundy will gravitate that way.

[ultraist]

15. WHAT? You have right wingnuts in MA?

What other ELECTED Repukes hold offices in MA?

[Idioteque]

19. I assume they thought he would be another William Weld. nt

[elperromagico]

25. Plurality winner with a less-than-stellar Dem opponent. n/t

[Justice]

27. Things about MA that may surprise you

1. MA is not so liberal. There are more voters registered as unenrolled than as democrats. Many republicans in MA register as unenrolled.

2. Many people in MA are thrifty or cheap. They think republicans will keep taxes down. Romney won huge in suburbs around Boston - all areas he targeted with his economy policy.

3. The last debate was hosted by Tim Russert. The first two questions he asked did O'Brien in. He asked one about teenagers and abortions and the second about the death penalty. The questions were designed to do O'Brien in - IMO.

4. Remarkably, MA has had Republican governors since Weld's win in 1990. And more remarkably, each one of them has left early or been horrible. Weld, Cellucci, Swift, now Romney.

5. Romney campaigned on a basic theory (which should be used against republicans in 06). Since Democrats control the house and senate, you don't want them to control the governor's position as well - better to have checks and balances - don't want governor to be a rubber stamp.

[TayTay]

28. And MA has a thing for tall guys with good hair

We find it irresistable. Romney knew this and managed to put his hair in every campaign commercial. (Oh, and he did ads shirtless. The sight of those wonderful manboobs glistening by the Belmont pool was just completely and utterly irresistable to MA female voters. We are weak and cannot resist the Rethug Sex Machine appeal. I don't think this can be repeated, as Mitt is not aging well. Maybe he can get one of his sons to be the substitute manboobs next time.)

[Blue Belle]

30. I wondered that myself...

When I saw him on C-span yesterday. How does one of the Bluest states elect this nut job?? Then I saw the title of the sho "Road to the White House 2008"... makes ya wonder.