Tuesday, May 30, 2006

I Love The Sound of Robocalls in the Afternoon

Being a delegate to the state party's nominating convention really makes a person feel appreciated. Or stalked, depending on your point of view. Rare is the day that I come home and there isn't some message from a candidate on my answering machine. Today was no exception. I got two calls, the first was from Martha Coakley who urged me to vote for Tom Reilly on the first and only ballot. The second was from DSC member Roberta Goldman who urged me to vote for Chris Gabrieli on the first ballot (of course, not mentioning that there might not be a second). The fact that the Reilly campaign is worried that he might lose votes on the first ballot tells me that he's close enough to 15% that he can't afford to make a deal to get Gabrieli on the ballot and split the 'lefty' vote.

Not to read too much into this, but there are some other differences between the two calls. First, I have no idea who Roberta Goldman is. Maybe I should, being a delegate and all, but if that's the best Chris Gabrieli can do three days before the convention, he's got his work cut out for him. Martha Coakley, I've heard of, and I imagine every other delegate has, too. Also, the Coakley message had a clear disclaimer at the end telling me that it was paid for by the Reilly campaign. Goldman's message did not. Maybe it wasn't -- I suppose she could be reading from her own script. I have no way of knowing because she didn't say.