It may seem like Democrats should automatically win the governorship in Massachusetts, but in fact since Michael Dukakis left office in 1991, the Bay State has had 4 straight Republican governors. Deval Patrick seems strongly poised to change that script.
A new Boston TV poll released yesterday afternoon showed Democrat Deval Patrick leading the gubernatorial pack with a 39 point lead over Republican Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey.
In the survey of 608 likely voters, 64 percent said they would vote for Patrick; 25 percent vouched for Healey; 5 percent supported Independent Christy Mihos and only 1 percent stood by Green-Rainbow Party candidate Grace Ross.
Massachusetts is the bluest state in the Union, so Deval Patrick winning the primary, and leading his Republican rival, is hardly surprising.
I was actually really re-assured by the town level breakdown the Boston Globe provided. Seems that the white suburbs voted for Patrick at rates that show that MA may actually be ready for a black governer. I was really scared that people would say they would vote for the black man, but not actually do it in the privacy of the polls.
As I pointed out in my entry, Niraj, a Dem winning the gubernatorial race in bluest MA hasn’t happened in 15 years.
As I pointed out in my entry, Niraj, a Dem winning the gubernatorial race in bluest MA hasn’t happened in 15 years.
Correction… it hasn’t happened in 20 years. Michael Dukakis left office in 1991, but he was re-elected in 1986.
Go Deval… voting for him by absentee ballot was one of my last official acts as a MA resident before I moved to DC.
Also, Democratic party politics in MA is so heavily dominated by the state and local party machines that for a complete outsider to win the Democratic primary in a landslide is huge.