Wednesday, February 15, 2006

I'm a big fan of Beyond 495's Susan M. Today, though, I totally disagree with her. Susan is--to put it mildly--not pleased that Chris Gabrieli might be jumping into the Democratic governor's race. Here's why:

If Gabrieli wanted to be in the Governor's race, then he damn well should have gotten involved before the caucus and actually done the work. Having this "committee" do the work for him with his blessing, but not his involvement (yeah, right) is damn passive-aggressive and is also an insult to grassroots democratic activists who have been busting their asses to work for the two announced candidates.

What's worse though is the idea that all a person has to do to get into the race this late, is not so much based on support, but the ability to say, "Right. Who do I make the check out to?"

To which I reply: Susan, I'm not sure if Gabrieli is the Democrats' best hope to reclaim the Corner Office. But let's suppose he is. In that case...Who cares how grassroots party activists feel about his prospective candidacy? The top priority for Massachusetts Democrats should be electing a governor for the first time in two decades, not bolstering the collective self-esteem of the grassroots.

I happen to agree that there's passive-aggressive quality to Gabrieli allowing his supporters to explore a late entrance. And it's reasonable to lament the tremendous power of money in politics. But Gabrieli isn't just a legitimate prosepct because he's rich--he's a smart, thoughtful guy who knows his shit and has paid his dues. (Remember 2002?) Furthermore, the former frontrunner, Tom Reilly, has been committing long, slow political suicide. And despite Patrick's considerable appeal, there's legitimate concern about whether he can win a general-election fight.

Back to Reilly for a minute. When Reilly tapped St. Fleur, Lynne at Left in Lowell criticized him for being anti-democratic. Now, we all know that the St. Fleur pick was disastrous. But I'll hearken back to my previous point: if Reilly sized up the existing Democratic LG field and decided that he didn't want to run with any of the candidates, why shouldn't he get his own woman into the race?

To reiterate: the top priority for state Democrats should be winning the Big One. Period. As long as everyone plays by the rules--which Reilly did when he picked St. Fleur, and which Gabrieli is currently doing as well--there's no reason to complain.

2/15/2006 2:47:57 PM by Adam Reilly | Comments [6] |  
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