Can the Democrats field a viable candidate at long last? A superficial look.
The inability of the Democratic party to field candidates from outside the machine has been heartbreaking, both here in Massachusetts and nationally. It's the outsiders who have big appeal, not the Kerrys and the Gephardts.
Today, a Boston Globe survey indicates that gubenatorial candidate Deval Patrick has a 3-to-1 lead in Democratic convention delegates, an interesting early start, and a potential break in the logjam of terrible insider candidates.
Putting aside the racial comparison, I get a Barak Obama vibe off this guy: he seems to be running an upbeat campaign with positive rhetoric, a theme of hope, and a personal history that explicity references the American Dream. He's not the same stirring orator as Obama from what I can see, but he's good looking and has the message that people are looking for.
Let's look at the opponents. In the primary, he's likely to face Tom Reilly, the current Attorney General. Reilly has a pinched-looking face, seems tense on tv, sounds harsh, and got a rough start by picking a black city councilwoman with some financial problems as a runningmate.
The likely contender in the main event is Lt. Governor Kerry Healy. She'll be able to make some claims about economic growth, can probably deliver soccer moms, and seems to be highly focused on victims rights an other tough-on-crime messages. She also seems pretty tightly wound on tv.
Mentally, I think people are making some pretty simple calculations in voting situations: could candidate x run the show? do their policies sound like they make sense? where do they fall on the 1-2 issues I care deeply about? do I get a good feeling from this person?
It's not some deep and lengthy calculus. For Healy, it's policy + tough - tense - Romney = zero. With Reilly it's crime - tense - insider = -1. In each case, it's a series of minor themes taking the place of a larger one.
Duval Patrick's campaign video is full of warm fuzzies about coming to Milton Academy on scholarship, suing Bill Clinton in a civil rights case, and working for Coke. But here's the kind of gold that he should be able to cash in on during the campaign:
Today, a Boston Globe survey indicates that gubenatorial candidate Deval Patrick has a 3-to-1 lead in Democratic convention delegates, an interesting early start, and a potential break in the logjam of terrible insider candidates.
Putting aside the racial comparison, I get a Barak Obama vibe off this guy: he seems to be running an upbeat campaign with positive rhetoric, a theme of hope, and a personal history that explicity references the American Dream. He's not the same stirring orator as Obama from what I can see, but he's good looking and has the message that people are looking for.
Let's look at the opponents. In the primary, he's likely to face Tom Reilly, the current Attorney General. Reilly has a pinched-looking face, seems tense on tv, sounds harsh, and got a rough start by picking a black city councilwoman with some financial problems as a runningmate.
The likely contender in the main event is Lt. Governor Kerry Healy. She'll be able to make some claims about economic growth, can probably deliver soccer moms, and seems to be highly focused on victims rights an other tough-on-crime messages. She also seems pretty tightly wound on tv.
Mentally, I think people are making some pretty simple calculations in voting situations: could candidate x run the show? do their policies sound like they make sense? where do they fall on the 1-2 issues I care deeply about? do I get a good feeling from this person?
It's not some deep and lengthy calculus. For Healy, it's policy + tough - tense - Romney = zero. With Reilly it's crime - tense - insider = -1. In each case, it's a series of minor themes taking the place of a larger one.
Duval Patrick's campaign video is full of warm fuzzies about coming to Milton Academy on scholarship, suing Bill Clinton in a civil rights case, and working for Coke. But here's the kind of gold that he should be able to cash in on during the campaign:
- "I feel as a citizen tired of politics as a partisan blood sport. [...] Frankly, it's the rest of us who are waiting while the games get played by the insiders."
posted by $!# at 3/22/2006 06:44:00 AM
1 Comments:
Yeah. We'll have to see. He seems pretty cool, and a friend of mine is working on his campaign and has very glowing things to say. But I once heard him open his mouth, and got a little worried. Political candidates that can't speak well are like bloggers who can't write well... I think: yikes.
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