Scott Brown Winning Boston.com Survey on Who Won The Debate

It may not be a scientific poll, but if I was gonna predict how a Boston Globe online survey would turn out regarding the outcome of last night’s debate, I figured Coakley would have been able to rely on the state’s significant party loyalty advantage to flood the poll with people who would vote for her as the winner.

Well, apparently, there just aren’t enough who believe she won, because with nearly 11,000 votes, Scott Brown is currently winning with 74.6%. Only 20.9% think Martha Coakley won.

First Lady

History in the making…

Gov. Deval Patrick yesterday tapped veteran trooper Marian McGovern to be the first female leader of the Massachusetts State Police, promoting a 30-year veteran who was among only a dozen women in the agency when she began her career.

“She has done just about every job in the state police,” Patrick said of his pick yesterday. “She is very well-prepared and very well-regarded.”

McGovern, 55, of Millbury, goes from second-in-command to top cop on Dec. 16, replacing Col. Mark Delaney.

McGovern said she was “on cloud nine” over the new post but also acknowledged the significant financial challenges the force faces in the coming months and years. She said, however, that she is ready to meet those challenges.

“I know and I certainly understand we have a tough road ahead of us,” she said. “I think that is when leadership needs to take a stand.”

Delaney recalled how there were no female troopers on the job when he began 35 years ago. Now, McGovern is among 173 women on the 2,250-trooper force.

Senate President Therese Murray praised the move.

“Like so many other superintendents before her, she worked her way up the ranks,” Murray said.

UPDATE: More from the Globe and Herald.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Herald and Globe.

You Tell ‘Em!

From US Senate candidate Scott Brown’s (R) primary night victory speech:

Right now in Washington, we have 10 congressmen and two senators who all vote the same way, they’re beholden to the same special interests and when they vote, the first thing they ask is how am I going to be rated on the special interest report card. Their idea of a debate is not to argue over whether to raise taxes, but how high to raise them. If change is what we have in mind, do we really need another robot who’s programmed to vote like the rest of our delegation? When I take a vote, the first thing I am going to ask is, is this bill good for Massachusetts. You will be my special interest.

My entire career has been spent fighting to keep taxes low, cut out wasteful spending and keep government in check.

As your next US Senator, I will always speak my mind and act in the best interests of the people I represent. I don’t take my orders from either of the political parties, or from Harry Reid, or Deval Patrick, or the labor bosses. I plan to take my orders from you, the people who sent me to Washington DC to make a difference.

The political machine in this state is going to pull out all the stops to keep their hands on this Senate seat. Rest assured it will be me against the machine. You’re going to see all the special interests line up with my opponent and the last thing they want is someone coming in and changing the way business is done on Capital Hill.

They say I’m the long shot, and if the same old powers-that-be get to decide this election, I guess that’s right. But I’m betting that a new day is coming in Massachusetts. I am here in the name of every independent-thinking citizen, whether they be Democrat, unenrolled-independent or Republican, to take on one-party rule, and the Beacon Hill bosses, and their machine, and their candidate … and with your help I intend to win.

UPDATE: Please be sure to join us Wednesday night on The Notes on Blog Talk Radio at 8:00pm EST. Our guests will be Sushannah Walshe and Scott Conroy, the authors of Sarah from Alaska, and David Horowitz, the author of A Cracking of the Heart. Plus, more from the Globe.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Herald, Phoenix and the Globe.

Club Sandwich

Hey, I thought Deval Patrick was a progressive!

Governor Deval Patrick canceled at the last minute a speech he was scheduled to give before a little-known but prestigious men’s group, saying the invitation was accepted before he knew of its policy toward women.

Patrick withdrew from the speech before the 126-year-old Clover Club about two hours before a dinner was scheduled to begin at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel on Saturday, according to event organizers.

“The invitation was accepted by staff without a full understanding of the club’s traditions for [the] event – specifically its policy of not allowing women to attend the function,’’ the governor’s communications director, Kyle Sullivan, said in a statement last night. “When the governor recently found out about the fact that women were not allowed to attend such functions he expressed his concern to the organizers and decided not to attend.’’

“He appreciates the long social and cultural history that the Clover Club has played in Massachusetts and the role the club continues to play in the lives of its present-day members,’’ Sullivan added.

Jack Quinlan, secretary of the Clover Club, said one of Patrick’s aides called about 5 p.m. to say that the governor was unable to make it.

“No reason was given,’’ Quinlan said. “Nor did we ask any reason. The guy’s the governor of 6 million people. We just accept that something came up. . . . He’s the busiest guy in the state, and if he could’ve made it, he would have. Hopefully, we’ll get him another time.’’

When asked whether the club has had other cancellations, Quinlan said, “There’s certainly been some for weather. Beyond that, I don’t know.’’

A Patrick aide said there had been conversations between administration officials and club officials on Friday and Saturday to express the governor’s concerns.

When the announcement was made at the dinner on Saturday night that Patrick was not going to speak, the audience applauded, according to one attendee, although it is unclear whether that indicated ill feelings toward the governor or simply that people wanted to call it an early night.

Apparently, this brought back bad memories of The Fly Club…

UPDATE: More from the Herald.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Globe and Herald.

Bad Penny

Can we classify Gov. Patrick as a “temporary guest worker” at this point?

Governor Deval Patrick today will unveil a state-commissioned report that urges him to push for driver’s licenses and in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, as well as English classes for foreign-born Massachusetts residents who need them.

The issues were the top concerns raised by immigrants across the state during a series of public meetings the governor ordered from 2008 through early this year.

Now they are among 131 recommendations in the “New Americans Agenda,’’ billed as the state’s most comprehensive blueprint for integrating immigrants into Massachusetts.

It is unclear whether Patrick will embrace the recommendations, which he has declined to release since he received them in July. He will refer the list to his Cabinet for an action plan within 90 days, said his spokesman Kyle Sullivan.

The majority of the 912,310 immigrants in Massachusetts are here legally; almost half are naturalized US citizens and other legal residents are waiting in line. But the authors of the report also urged Patrick to press federal officials to create a path to legal residency for immigrants here illegally, saying the harsh national debate casts a pall over all immigrants.

“We need to get past the rhetoric of hate that has dominated this debate and instead strive for policy choices that are in the best long-term interests of our nation,’’ Westy Egmont and Eva Millona, cochairmen of the Governor’s Advisory Council for Refugees and Immigrants, which authored the report, wrote in a letter to Patrick.

“As governor of Massachusetts, you are in a position to help influence the debate in Washington in favor of true reform that benefits the Commonwealth and the country.’’

The recommendations were submitted to the governor a year after he commissioned a panel of state officials and advocates to find better ways to integrate immigrants into Massachusetts.

The panel held six statewide hearings from Chelsea to Springfield through early this year, talked to 1,200 people, and spent $260,000 in private funding to complete the report.

Patrick has had a mixed record on immigrants, who make up 14 percent of the state’s population. The governor is viewed as an ally, but he has disappointed many immigrants by not lobbying hard for in-state tuition for undocumented students at state colleges and universities.

Patrick has long said he would sign a bill if lawmakers passed it, but advocates said they do not yet have the votes.

UPDATE: From the State House News Service.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Globe, WCVB and Herald.

THIRD UPDATE: More from Michael Graham, the Globe and Herald.