Graham-nesty
WTKK-FM star (and author of the forthcoming book That’s No Angry Mob, That’s My Mom) Michael Graham extends an invitation to Gov. Patrick.
Gov. Deval Patrick’s new willingness to step into the trenches of conservative radio yielded an invitation yesterday from talk jock Michael Graham, but the governor said he wants the right-wing ranters to play nice.
“I’m not lookin’ for a smackdown,” Patrick said yesterday after speaking to building trade unions in Plymouth. “All I’m saying is, I want to be out there. I want to talk to people.”
WTKK-FM’s Graham said, “We may not agree with him on everything, but the notion that this is some kind of lion’s den – please! It’s just people talking.”
Graham said he promised the governor there would be no “violence or nudity.”
Of Graham’s olive branch, Patrick said, “that’s very nice of him.”
The Herald reported yesterday that Patrick, seeking to gain traction in a tough three-way fight to retain the Corner Office, was “open” to hitting the airwaves with previously shunned right-wing hosts. Graham immediately invited Patrick on his show yesterday.
Patrick’s staff said he couldn’t fit a last-minute appearance into his schedule, but that he’d go on the air with Graham within weeks.
It appears, however, that Patrick won’t show up on another popular show:
Patrick aides were considering putting the governor on Herald columnist and WRKO-AM (680) host Howie Carr’s show, but Patrick seemed skittish about the idea.
“We’ll see,” he said.
There’s another show you can do, Governor! Come on, man! Do I have to beg?
UPDATE: More from the Globe and Herald.
SECOND UPDATE: More from Todd Feinburg, Holly Robichaud, the Herald and Globe.
THIRD UPDATE: From the Globe and Herald.
An Alternative Take
Dan Kennedy reminds us that Gov. Patrick’s defeat is far from a foregone conclusion.
For one thing, Patrick, despite his missteps, has managed to score some notable victories, including tough ethics reform, taxpayer-friendly changes to the public-employee pension system (although not enough), reorganisation of the state’s wretched transportation bureaucracy and an education-reform law that emphasises standards and accountability.
Patrick’s efforts to combat carbon emissions led a former California environmental official to say that Patrick “is trying to make California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger look like a carbon girlie man”. Moreover, Patrick, a formidable campaigner, has maintained his nice-guy persona, with no hint of personal scandal. That matters in a state whose last three house speakers have run afoul of the authorities, and in which a state senator was caught by a surveillance camera stuffing cash down her bra.
Further, Kennedy notes:
The point is that whether Patrick loses his re-election bid, as expected, or manages an improbable comeback, it will have nothing to do with Barack Obama.
Despite their surface similarities, Patrick’s and Obama’s life experiences are dramatically different. Patrick grew up poor in a black section of Chicago. Obama’s existence, by contrast, was rootless and marked by his struggle for a racial identity.
One important characteristic defines them both, however. Each was elected promising not just to enact a specific set of proposals but to change the very way business is conducted. Each has found it much harder than he’d expected to fulfill that promise.
If Deval Patrick loses this autumn, it will tell us little about what Massachusetts voters think about Obama. But if he wins, it may provide Obama with something of a road map he can study – and possibly follow to his own re-election victory in 2012.
Kennedy’s piece is a must-read. If nothing else, it reminds those of us fundamentally opposed to Patrick’s vision just how much work needs to be done.
UPDATE: Please be sure to join us Wednesday night at 8:00pm EST for the latest edition of The Notes on Blog Talk Radio! Our guests will be pollster Scott Rasmussen and author Marc Thiessen. Plus, more from Scot Lehigh, Howie Carr and the Boston Herald.
SECOND UPDATE: Gov. Patrick is willing to appear on conservative-leaning talk radio shows? I can think of one conservative-leaning talk radio show where he’ll receive a warm welcome! Plus, more from Howie Carr, David Bernstein, Rasmussen Reports, the Herald and Globe.
Sock It To Me!
Good Lord, it’s come down to this.
How do you know it’s election season? When Governor Deval Patrick takes time out of his day to more or less encourage a bunch of high school students visiting the State House to vote for him.
Popping out of his fourth-floor office on Wednesday, Patrick went down to a third-floor hallway where the championship girls soccer team from Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton had gathered before they were honored on the House floor.
Patrick greeted the girls, and told them that state law allows them to register to vote as long as they will be 18 before the next election. He repeated a frequent refrain that citizens get the government they deserve, and if they don’t get involved, government will be run by “professionals’’ who may not have their best interests in mind.
If Massachusetts citizens get the government they deserve, then what have we done to deserve this?
UPDATE: More from the Globe and Herald.
SECOND UPDATE: From Red Mass Group, the Herald and Globe.
THIRD UPDATE: Charley Manning interviews Gov. Patrick. Plus, more from Holly Robichaud, the Herald and Globe.
Pleased to announce hiring of campaign manager Matt Grew
I’m pleased to share the news below – issued in a press release earlier this week:
‘ERIC DAHLBERG FOR STATE SENATE’ ANNOUNCES HIRING OF CAMPAIGN MANAGER
Veteran GOP campaign strategist Matt Grew joins the Dahlberg Campaign effective March 1st
Chelmsford, MA – March 1, 2010 – Today the ‘Eric Dahlberg for State Senate’ campaign announced that it has hired veteran GOP strategist Matt Grew to serve as manager.
Grew brings years of political experience to Dahlberg’s campaign for the State Senate in the Third Middlesex District. He previously served in the office of Governor Mitt Romney, where he worked on legislative affairs. He served as campaign manager for US Senator Scott Brown’s 2008 State Senate re-election campaign. Most recently, he served as events coordinator on the staff of Brown’s history-making campaign for US Senate.
“I hired Matt because he has the experience and skills to get the job done,” said Dahlberg. “He is a brilliant campaign strategist, a true gentleman, and a good friend.”
According to Grew, the decision to join Dahlberg’s campaign came easily: “I’ve known Eric and Suzanne for years. I received calls from several GOP candidates following Scott Brown’s election to the US Senate, but my decision was easy: I believe Eric is a leader who will be the right voice for the people of the Third Middlesex district.”
Grew joins the Dahlberg campaign on a full-time basis starting today, March 1st.
Additional information about the Dahlberg campaign is available at www.DahlbergforSenate.com.
SHNS Exposes Behind the Scenes Maneuvers on Governor Patrick’s ‘Bridge To Nowhere’
Chances are, you’ve heard about the Patrick Administration’s unsuccessful attempts last year to funnel $9 million in federal stimulus funding to New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft to pay for the construction of a footbridge connecting two parking lots Kraft owns along Route 1 in Foxborough. What you may not know, however, is just how far the Administration was willing to go to justify using taxpayer dollars to benefit the financial interests of a multi-millionaire donor like Kraft.
The State House News Service, citing internal communications it obtained from the Administration through a public records request, recently reported that the governor’s senior aides “worked aggressively last fall to rebut negative stories and cast a positive glow to White House questions about Patrick channeling funds to a pedestrian footbridge near Gilette Stadium, the football venue owned by the governor’s friend and political benefactor Robert Kraft…” Reportedly, aides to Vice President Joe Biden had contacted Jeffrey Simon, the state’s federal stimulus czar, “asking him to defend” the funding of the Kraft project when it became public.
According to the News Service, “Patrick and other administration officials had vigorously defended the footbridge on economic development and public safety grounds, after repeated media questions about the friendship between New England Patriots owner Kraft and Patrick, who exchanged prized box seats during State of the Commonwealth speeches and Patriots games.”
Despite an all-out push by the governor, the footbridge was soon pulled from the list of approved projects.
