Monday, April 10, 2006

It’s hard to believe that Gabrieli is so vindictive that he would just be running to hurt Reilly. If that's not his motivation, the question Gabrieli hasn’t answered, but needs to, is what’s wrong with Patrick? Unless Chris can explain why he thinks Patrick shouldn’t be our next governor, he shouldn’t be running.

Quasi-religious? As an athiest and Deval supporter, I resent that. :)

I met Gabrieli on Saturday (at the Greater Lowell Area Dems meeting) and heard him speak at length, which I will be posting about as soon as I can find the time (I was FURIOUSLY taking notes, not every day that such an opportunity falls on a blogger's lap unannounced) but here's what I think: Gabrieli has fallen for the hype that he's the only guy who can save the Democratic party from another gubernatorial loss. The insiders of the party, in a panic (because god forbid they back Patrick, who's not beholden to them at all really), turned to Gabrieli as their savior, and he swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.

Besides the inherent contradiction of complimenting his opponants ("they're both good candidates") and yet saying over and over that he jumped in the race because he thought he could win the general where the others would fail, Gabrieli struck me as a nice, personable guy, an OK speaker (at least in front of a very small and mostly-supportive crowd largely made up of insiders) and he seems to actually want to talk about some issues, albeit his were not fleshed out much (likely because he's so new to the race, at least I hope).

I basically agree with Lynne's third paragraph.

I have another theory about why he's running: he *always* wanted to run -- in our interview he said he was thinking about it last year -- but didn't think he could beat Reilly until February, when Reilly stumbled. CG thinks he can make it a race now, and from what the polls are saying, he may be right.

While I don't live in Massachusetts anymore, I have been following the race there with great interest [and especially since New Hampshire essentially has no real race at this point].

Knowing Gabrieli pretty well, he didn't go into this race without thinking about it long and hard first. Reilly should've figured out a way to get the guy on the ticket. I don't know what happened between the two, but something blooped. Gabrieli is a technocrat; and a nice one at that. He has great and grand ideas on public policy and has used his wealth to tinker with ideas. And, despite previous comments by myself about his motives, I really think the guy wants to best for the state. I also find it interesting that Gabrieli seems to be morphing himself into a Democrat version of Mihos - while still remaining an insider - a tricky balancing act.

As far as Patrick goes, I just don't see it. I never have. There hasn't been anything the guy has said that has made me go, Wow, that guy should be governor. I have read a ton of articles on the guy, I have seen him on TV, and I have friends working on his campaign and friends who love the guy. But the only thing I can see is that he is the great black hope. I don't see anything else that would make me vote for the guy.

Lynne -- yes, quasi-religious. Like the Howard Dean stalwarts who won;t remove his bumper stickers two years later...