More on Massachusetts' weakened GOP

After noting the lack of a credible opponent to John Kerry we find a followup in today's Globe noting their across-the-board inability to field candidates:

The result: 2,500 delegates will gather at today's party convention in Lowell to endorse a ticket that, aside from Healey, is little-known and underfinanced.

The GOP has no candidate for secretary of state. The party is fielding two obscure political figures -- Lawrence Frisoli, a Cambridge lawyer and one-term city councilor, for attorney general, and business consultant Earle Stroll of Harvard for state auditor. Frisoli had $1,000 of his own money in his campaign bank account as of several weeks ago, campaign finance records show. Stroll reported having $200 in his account at the beginning of April.

The Globe article chalks it up to Kerry Healy, but I think it's impossible to underestimate the role played by our absentee governor, Mitt Romney.

As much as I dislike so much of what the GOP stands for, the lack of any back and forth in an election is bad for everyone. And with New England's history of cultivating some less-reactionary Republicans, it's unfortunate to think that a moderating influence on the party at a national level is being lost.