Left In Lowell

My life lately has been relatively insane. But I did manage to get myself awake enough to attend the Greater Lowell Area Dems breakfast meeting, primarily for aforementioned reasons of a little something-something being cooked up for the Lt. Gov’s race (shhhhhh, we still haven’t officially announced yet). The shocking news is that bloggers and local Dem party members are working together on it (so far, so great!). It’s not so hard to build a bridge.

Unannounced, we were visited by candidate for governor (as of, what, five days ago?) Chris Gabrieli. Not usually do such opportunities fall upon the blogger’s lap, so I took furious notes. (There were also candidates for other offices there; I had another opportunity to meet Dr. Sam Kelley , and also candidate for Middlesex Clerk of Courts Michael Sullivan, both of which I will blog about later). Clicky to read more:

First, to clarify: the ire against the Dem Party ruling that allowed an easier entré for Gabrieli was never aimed at the man directly. Since I didn’t even know him. He was pretty gracious to Susan (of Beyond495) and me, given that we were against that ruling, and that we were both proudly wearing our Deval Patrick buttons.

Gabrieli and I also have a strange connection in that he was involved with the founding (not sure in what role) of Citizen Schools and Community Teamwork. I had the opportunity to teach a group of middle school kids web design through CS, and it’s a great after-school program.

Gabrieli said he was “passionate about the state” and said that the current trends in Massachusetts are unacceptable. The loss of jobs and people from the state two years in a row is a very good reason not to elect the same old broken-promise Republicans, who seem to be more interested in running for national office or leaving the state than doing their jobs. He says people are sick of empty slogans; he wants to focus on the Romney/Healey administration’s failures to get results for the state.

He did make a good point that as the 2002 Democratic Lt. Gov. candidate, Chris Gabrieli has actually debated Healey a number of times, and this makes him more ready to take her on in the general election. (Does anyone have clips of said debates? I’d like to see how he did.)

Gabrieli talked about how the common school schedule comprised only 20% of a student’s time, on an outdated agrarian calendar, and the standards haven’t really changed in 150 years. An increase of learning for students can make a huge difference; using tools such as after school programs, especially at the risky middle-school age, will keep more kids in school and bring them further. The state just passed an increase of 30% more time for kids to be in school, the first such bill in the nation. This will give more opportunity to teach kids the arts, give them help with their homework, and allow them to participate in sports.

Gabrieli doesn’t want to engage in “slogan politics” but rather, to present real ideas. He says that he came to the conclusion that the Dems would lose the corner office again (if he didn’t jump in), that Kerry Healey has money (though he lamented the lack of support for clean elections), and felt it would, in any case, be good for the race to add another voice. Already, his addition to the primary forced Tom Reilly to debate, he said.

I have problems with that premise which I will go into at the end.

In answer to a question from the room, Gabrieli says he supports the wind farm concept, though he wanted more time to study the particulars of the Cape Wind issue. He says that of the people he’s talked to who oppose it, they don’t seem to bring up specific issues - but he would still want to be sure it was the best thing for MA before he’d OK it.

Another question from the room centered around the fact that post-primary bad blood has cause the Democrats problems in the past, and why should they think that this time will be any less contentious or damaging? The Republicans don’t have to go through the same vetting process pre-general, which means that the Dem will come through with more exposed issues that Healey can use. Gabrieli answered that this was the reason he jumped in the race, to give the party the best chance to win, and that he will treat his opponants with respect. He said he was running for office not against Reilly or Patrick, but against the Republicans. He also said that as an LG candidate in 2002, all the points of attack against him are already out there, and he knows what the other side will throw at him.

Gabrieli mentioned he also supports gay marriage, as a position of principle, and is against the death penalty and for clean elections - though he will be in a position to outspend Healey. When asked why he jumped into the Dem primary instead of running as an Indy, he said that he would never do it - he is a Democrat, holds those principles, and sticks by them.

My general conclusion after hearing him talk was that he seemed fairly comfortable in his own skin, at least in a small group of mostly insider Dems who are fairly or outright supportive. I was told that was a pretty dynamic speech for him, so maybe he’s getting his stride - or maybe it was a fluke due to the intimate nature of the meeting.

I have a real issue with one thing though: I think he’s bought the hype. That he is the only candidate that can survive the general election (and even I think Reilly has a shot at that, if he stops being bad at politics - never mind Patrick who seems to be able to appeal to lots of independents as well as moderate Republicans). He’s bought the insider spin hook, line, and sinker. That’s not to say he will make a terrible addition to this race (hell, he’s pulling support from the other guy, not so much mine) but it seems rather naive to assume that one can be the savior of an election that probably doesn’t need one. What proof is there that Gabrieli has any more appeal to indies and moderate conservatives than Patrick? Yes, he did have to decide quick…the window was short…but first, Patrick has a mucho mucho ground game that will outperform (guaranteed!) anything Reilly, or Gabrieli, can put together at this late date, despite the money gap. If any of you are involved in the Patrick campaign, you know the feeling that I know about…the feeling of real possibility that ‘we shall overcome.’ I don’t get the sense that anyone feels that strongly about Gabrieli or Reilly. So, who’s really credibly going to do the best in the general when all is said and done?

Anyway, he seems like a nice guy on first pass, so…let the games begin. And watch and/or TIVO the debate one week from Saturday at 8:30am!!!