Mihos Campaign Faces Challenges
by Aaron Margolis, March 2nd, 2006 at 12:46pm
The talk of politics around the hub is focused on Christy Mihos’ decision to run independent in the race for governor. In putting of the decision in such a nail-biting fashion, Mihos has quite effectively been given a vast amount of free advertising for his campaign. Today is Christy’s day in the spotlight, culminating with his official campaign announcement at the steps of State House tonight.
Though just because he’s getting all this free advertising and getting his message out en masse today, and likely for a few days following, doesn’t mean things are all smooth sailing behind the scenes. The Boston Herald is reporting that some members of Mihos’ campaign team quit this week–but not due to his decision to run as an independent. This all comes a few weeks after Mihos’ campaign manager, Holly Robichaud, and other staff members left the campaign. The Mihos Campaign took in Peter Pendergast, former Massachusetts Turnpike Authority general counsel, to be interim campaign manager.
So why did these campaign staff leave? Former deputy campaign mananger Ron Vining called Mihos an “unmanageable candidate,” and blamed the staff departures to Mihos’ political naivete. While Mihos’s decision to run independent was not the impetus for the recent staff changes, Vining and the other former Mihos campaign members are urging the supporters they helped gather for Mihos to back Kerry Healey, now the only only Republican candidate, instead.
Besides the behind-the-scenes changes for the Mihos campaign, the struggle for the campaign will be to gather up enough support. With not organized party behind him (consequently alienating the entire state GOP), Mihos will have to overcome incredible odds to be elected as an independent governor.
Despite Christy’s decision to run as an independent, Hub Politics will still be collecting pledges at our Christy Mihos Delegate Pledge Form. While there is no convincing Christy to change his mind at this point, we can show him that he would have had the support he needed to run as a republican and not abandon the party he spent his entire life with.
Entry Filed under: Christy Mihos
5 Comments
1. Emil Levitin | March 2nd, 2006 at 2:42 pm
Christy Mihos is our Jim Jeffords. This just shows how the GOP shouldn’t welcome RINOS like Mihos into our party, what could be more far away from the GOP. He is firmly in support of gay marriage and will definitely be blind to any incentives to let the people vote on the issue, he advocates for baby killing in all cases, and on the vital issue of illegal immigrants in Massachusetts, his stance makes this sticker a good representation of his campaign “Christy Mihos for Governor - 100,000 Illegal Aliens Can’t Be Wrong”.
I would have liked him to run in the GOP primary since it would have been good for Massachusetts Republicans for an ideologically centered race, where the more conservative Kerry Healey would likely prevail. As long as the GOP welcomes RINOS and CINOS like Jim Jeffords, Lincoln Chafee, and Christy Mihos, we will face many setbacks like these. One of the most recent ones was in the Virginia gubernatorial race where Republican RINO state senator Russell Potts ran as an independent.
However, I predict and hope that Mihos’s independent run won’t have that much of a difference on the campaign, since I am optimistic enought to expect that the majority of Mass. Republicans have enough common sense and conservatism to not embrace Mihos instead of Healey. Unenrolled voters who are more vital to a Republican gubernatorial victory than Republican voters in this state, also will hopefully embrace Healey as the MASS GOP’s unenrolled base are mostly conservatives who do not wish to register with any party.
Still, Mihos’s campaign will definitely make it harder for us to reclaim the State House. Given the current state of his campaign, however, I am beginning to hope that this late start to his campaign might result in failure to get enough signatures. The Herald is reporting that he is losing campaign staff who should not been with him in the first place, and deem him unmanageable and presumably unreasonable. Let us hope.
2. Sean Giovanello | March 2nd, 2006 at 8:23 pm
Kerry Healey should win this one easily (by 3 or 4 points), but Mihos should keep her honest on core Republican issues (guns, taxes, etc).
As for the campaigners leaving, most of them are Republicans and, if they want to work again, cant really be campaigning professionally against the Republican candidate for governor.
3. Knightbrigade | March 2nd, 2006 at 10:03 pm
Mihos is just taking out his frustration of being slapped by Jane Swift. He knows he can’t WIN, but can be a pain in the ass to the republican powers that be. Like a post above, WE (conservative republicans) don’t need these socialist dressed in republican clothes. BYE LIncoln Chaffee, BYE Christy don’t let the door hit ya in the arse. We will need all the help we can get, to win ANY kind of an election in this liberal black hole of a state, but not at the price of a Christy Mihos.
4. Lynne | March 3rd, 2006 at 9:58 pm
Kerry Healy is conservative? I guess next to Tom and Deval she is but I’m conservative and I have no one to vote for for governor in 2006.
Ick.
5. Knightbrigade | March 4th, 2006 at 2:05 am
It’s MASS.! When you get lemons you can only make lemonade….. Kerry is as concervative as were gonna get in this wonderful state. You want true conservative, move to South Dakota.
hmmm…I should look into it. haha