Question for Mass DUers

[fencesitter]

Why does one of the bluest states in the union have a repub governor? I didn't know this until the presidential stuff started. Of course here in PA I wonder why we have Santorum.

[welshTerrier2]

1. my two cents ...

1. the Democrats have been arrogant ... leaders like Bulger and Finneran were not popular statewide and republican gubernatorial candidates were able to exploit this fact ...

2. i think we've run relatively weak candidates ...

3. the Party is totally disorganized ... it has no energy ... we need to build a strong infrastructure NOW, not just during elections ...

4. the State may be blue, but more and more Massachusetts residents are now "unenrolled" ... this means "registered without declaring a party" ... Democratic enrollments have been steadily declining for years ...

[merbex]

4. Your #1 reason is dead on except it could be expanded

Bulger and Finneran really did nothing to help elect a Dem gov; makes you think that they wanted to be perceived as THE power dem in the state

They definitely projected an image that did damage to statewide Democratic Party

[TayTay]

7. I agree that the state party is listless

When I showed up at my Dem Caucus a week ago last Sat, we had the facts drummed into us about representing small towns in MA. I was told that small towns tend to form coalitions with other small towns and vote against anything that the cities propose. The fear in the small towns is that the city Dems are always perched on the edge of flying off into liberal-land and that this will cause the borderline Dems to go Republican in a split second. (There is some truth to this, but not to the extent it was explained to me in caucus.)

There was real unease about what Howard Dean would do to the Party. I told the assembly that Dr. Dean was a social liberal and fiscal conservative during his tenure in VT. This went over well, but the idea that Dean might be more liberal than they thought the non-city people could handle scared them. (Well, that plus the fact that the State Party is always threatening to take delegates away from small towns. This is stupid, call a cease-fire on this. It causes a more conservative town base to emerge that has as it's rallying point 'Screw the cities before they screw us.' Come on, there has to be a way to unify this party and get the voices out without the constant squabbling.)

Curiously enough, the one thing that my small town Dem council had accurately heard was that Kerry had donated money to use for grassroots voter efforts to the DNC. (Give us some of that money. Can't someone tell the Senator that charity begins at home.)

[MADem]

2. Because most New England GOP types are more liberal than

...Southern Democrats. Mitt the shitt is an exception to the rule--he's just a cretinous jerk. I think Romney stole this election, frankly. I swear, they ran the "test" for the national elections in Western MA.

Romney is a creep, and he doesn't have a big fan club. He's not like Weld (R), who was civil, clever, well liked, and viewed as a counterbalance to the legislature, which is overwhelmingly D.

[fencesitter]

3. Mitt the Shitt....

That's priceless. So is Massachusetts like PA, the further west you travel, the more conservative the population? But yes, I would accept a GOPer from Mass would be more liberal than a southern Dem. As far as Dem arrogance goes, we have a few guys here in Philadelphia that should be run out of town on a rail, they are the stereotypical fat cats, I don't think party is a factor, they try to stay elected no matter what it takes. If you bring in the pork, everyone loves you.

[MADem]

10. The pork is the name of the game

Like the late great Tip O'Neill said, all politics is local!!!

[rox63]

13. There's a pretty big liberal pocket in Western MA

I don't think that MA necessarily gets more conservative as you go west. There's a good-size liberal pocket around Amherst, Northhampton and Springfield area. The more conservative areas of the state seem to be in some of the very wealthy eastern suburbs, places like Weston, Dover, Hamilton.

[paineinthearse]

5. Let's make a pact.

Pa dumps Santorum & Mass dumps Romney.

Agreed?

[Ian David]

14. Agreed. I'll do what I can to kick Romney back to Salt Lake City

[ohkay]

6. Also,

Shannon O'Brien, his competition in the last election, was a horrible candidate.

OTOH, even the conservatives who voted for Mittens are shocked at his level of incompetence

[sniffa]

8. i didn't vote for her

she wasn't my choice in the primaries, and i went 3rd party in the gubnuh's vote.

i scraped the bottom of the barreL and voted for barbara anderson.

[ohkay]

9. I held my

nose, and voted against Romney. I have too many friends in education to vote for such an anti-teacher candidate.

[MADem]

11. I voted for her

She was not my first choice, but once she prevailed in the primary, I put my efforts behind her candidacy--I had a strong sense that Mitt the Shitt would be bad for the Bay State, I just did not realize how horrible he would be...who could imagine???

I do think a combination of vote shaving and voter discouragement served to put Mitt over the top. I often wonder how many MA voters who stayed away from the polls have a pang of regret every time they see ole skeleton head's kisser on the tv...

[woosh]

12. Deep down I belive they're will

be a backlash in the blue states that have red govs (with the exception of California) after the Bush election.