Video from LG Forum Up

The excellent folks over at Lowell Telecommunications Corporation have once again worked their magic. The video from Sunday's Lieutenant Governor Forum (Quicktime required) is now up. Thanks again to everyone who made that event a success.

If you missed that, there will be another opportunity to see all the Lieutenant Governor candidates in person. This Thursday, the Watertown Democrats are hosting all four of them starting at 8:00PM at Brigham House, 341 Mount Auburn St, Watertown.

Lieutenant Governor Forum Wrap-Up

If you missed yesterday's Lieutenant Governor forum sponsored by the MA lefty blogosphere, the Lowell Democratic City Committee and the Greater Lowell Area Democrats, there are plenty of opportunities to find out what happened. Lynne from Left in Lowell, Andy from Mass Revolution Now, Mike from Marry in Massachusetts, myself and some others wrote as-it-happened commentary in the live thread at Blue Mass. Group, and Chris liveblogged it over at Left Center Left. Also, you can check out this thread at Democratic Underground, and this post at MassChange for more impressions of the debate as it happened.

Yeserday we also met Boston Globe reporter Lisa Wangsness who wrote a couple posts from the paper's blog. She also wrote an article for today's Globe which focuses as much on us as it does the Lieutenant Governor candidates. I think we come off pretty well despite having driven her out of the room at one point because our "witty banter" caused her to miss a question (to Tim Murray on MCAS, if I recall).

For more debate post mortem, Mass Marrier has his afterparty thoughts, and our distinguished panelist David has a thank-you to everyone at BMG. As for me, I liked the debate format and I think all the candidates did well, though I think the "free-form" question period was kind of a waste. The 30-second rebuttals were great because they let everyone chime in on an issue without them wasting two minutes saying how they agree with everything the previous person said. The lightning round was nice, too, because it forced the candidates to think on their feet, though it was hard to blog since the questions came fast and furious.

Personally, I think the event was a success, particularly for one that was thrown together in just a few days after the venue had to change. We couldn't have pulled it off without help from some of the locals, particularly Dick Howe of the Lowell Democratic City Committee and Marie Sweeney of the Greater Lowell Area Democrats. They helped pull this together even though there were other people who were not anxious to see it succeed. I think that we can do more of these kinds of partnerships with local Democratic groups and cable access channels. It seemed yesterday like a perfect fit.

So, let me open it up to the rest of you. What's next for the local blogosphere? Another event like this one? We could do something a bit more local and try to host one for the Berkshire, Hampshire, and Franklin Senate race. We could be more ambitious and try for the Secretary of State or Governor candidates, but we'd need more than local cable access to pull off the latter. It's been just over six months since our first BlogLeft conference (which happened right after a huge snowstorm -- what is it with our events and natural disasters?) do we have the energy to put on another one this Summer? What do you all think?

BlogLeft Lieutenant Governor Forum Today

We're about 1 hour and 45 minutes until the Democratic Lieutenant Governor's Debate sponsored by BlogLeft, Lowell Democratic City Committe, and the Greater Lowell Area Democtats. I'm already here at Lowell Telecommunications Corporation TV Studio "helping" with the preparations. If you can't make it down here, the entire debate will be streamed on the Internet here.

I will be one of the question screeners at the event, so I don't think I'll be liveblogging here or elsewhere. We will be taking questions from the Internet, so if you'd like to ask something, post a comment on Blue Mass. Group when the live-blog thread comes online. Chris at Left Center Left will also be blogging.

Sunday BlogLeft LG Event Venue Change

Mother Nature has interfered with this weekend's planned Lieutenant Governor debate in Lowell. The debate -- sponsored by a group of us progressive blogger-types, the Lowell Democratic City Committee, and the Greater Lowell Area Democrats -- was to be held at the Lowell Senior Center. Unfortunately, due to extensive flooding, the Senior Center is being used as emergency shelter for displaced storm victims and will not be available for us.

The event has not been canceled, but has been moved to the Lowell Telecommunications TV studio at 246 Market Street. The good news is that we will be able to do a live TV broadcast and streaming video on LTC's website (www.ltc.org) plus live blogging. The downside is that the venue is much smaller, occupancy is only about thirty people. Because of the broadcasting, we should be able to find overflow seating in local establishments.

More information about the change to theevent at the Lowell Dems blog.

Remember, you can also catch each Lieutenant Governor candidate in Watertown, Thursday, May 25th at 8PM in the Brigham House, 341 Mount Auburn Street.

Two Chances to See Dem LG Candidates

As those of you who read Blue Mass. Group already know, BlogLeft -- a loosely affiliated group of Massachusetts progressive blogs -- the Lowell Democratic City Committee (LDCC) and the Greater Lowell Area Democrats (GLAD) are co-sponsoring a Lt. Governors Forum at the Lowell Senior Center on Sunday, May 21 at 2:00 PM. The format for this event has not yet been officially finalized, but the idea is to have a debate, with all candidates answering questions asked by a moderator of some kind. All four Lieutenant Governor candidates are now confirmed to be there. The Lowell Dems have more details and David from BMG is soliciting questions. I've been told that the Senior Center has wireless Internet, so the whole event will be liveblogged. More details on that as they come available.

If you can't get up to Lowell, there will be another forum here in Watertown on Thursday, May 25th at 8:00 PM at the Brigham House, 341 Mount Auburn St, sponsored by the Watertown Democratic Town Committee. This event will not be a debate and the candidates will not be on the stage at the same time, but all four are participating. Each candidate will have a half-hour to make a statement and answer questions. Here's the schedule:

8:00	Andrea Silbert
8:30	Deb Goldberg
9:00	Tim Murray
9:30	Sam Kelley

Both events are free and open to the public. They're also both before the Democratic convention in Worcester, so they make a perfect opportunity for delegates to grill the candidates before the endorsement vote.

Impressions From Last Night's LG Forum (Now With Audio)

I didn't get a chance last night to comment on the Lieutenant Governor forum I went to yesterday, so I'll just briefly give my impressions. First of all, I just want to say that I think all four candidates are great, and they all bring their own unique strengths to the ticket. Thanks to the Harvard Dems for putting it on. The forum was moderated by former New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen, but I thought she was kind of wasted. All she did was ask a couple of questions that the students provided her in advance and then pick people out of the audience during the Q & A session.

This is the first time I've heard Deborah Goldberg since Tim Murray joined the race, and she seems to be going for a 'jack-of-all-trades' approach. She played up her experience in business and creating jobs while at Stop & Shop, moved on to talking about her experience as a Brookline Selectman and how cities and towns were suffering, and explained that the most important issue we face is the health care crisis. It seemed to me that she's trying to present herself as a blend of the best of the other three candidates.

As for Sam Kelley, I'm glad he's out there forcing people to talk about health care. I also find his demeanor very calming, but at the same time you can tell he has a lot of passion for his topic.

Andrea Silbert summed up her campaign as "jobs, jobs, jobs," stressing her work as founder of the Center for Women & Enterprise. One thing that Silbert pointed out is that the Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor has practically no job description, so she thought that an entrepreneurial LG could really make a difference. Frankly, though, I'm skeptical because the reality of the situation is that as LG she could really only do whatever the Governor lets her. That said, having someone on the Democratic ticket who's all jobs, all the time would be great given that the GOP has settled on a law-and-order ticket.

Worcester Mayor Tim Murray, as usual, had a big presence. He focused on the budget cuts that cities and towns have faced in the past few years. One example he gave was with funding for MCAS tutoring and how it's gone from $50 million to $12 or $13 million under this administration. Murray pointed out that Healey likes to hold herself as the state's liaison for cities and towns, yet under her they are really struggling.

Here is the complete audio. I thought about breaking it up into several files, but I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader. The file is huge, though, and I'd appreciate it if you want to listen if you'd save it to your machine rather than play it off the server. Also, it cuts off during Sam Kelley's last answer to the last question. Most of the forum is there, though.

Back From the LG Forum

I just got back from the Democratic Lieutenant Governor forum sponsored by the Harvard Dems. It was a great event and I managed to get almost all of it on tape. I'll break it up into mp3s and put it somewhere on the web if there's any interest. The room was small, but it was pretty crowded, and a bunch of Harvard Undergrads liveblogged the whole debate. I actually brought my laptop, but alas no wireless access for non-students. Check out their impressions to tide you over until I can get the audio up.

Healey's LG Picks Down to Three

The Globe reports today that Kerry Healey has narrowed down her possible lieutenant governor picks to a list of three. Among them are two everyone expected, Senator Scott Brown (R-Wrentham) and US Attorney Michael Sullivan, and one who was not on the radar screen -- former state representative Reed V. Hillman (R-Sturbridge). Hillman left his seat in 2004 and was replaced by his legislative aid, Republican rep Todd Smola (R-Palmer). Hillman has also been colonel of the State Police and was nominated by Governor Romney to be US Marshal for Massachusetts. Should Healey pick Hillman, it would seem to indicate a strong focus for her campaign on criminal justice and crime issues. Here's what he had to say to the Globe:

Asked what his areas of concentration would be if he were elected lieutenant governor, Hillman named public safety, homeland security, and disaster preparedness. He said he was concerned about the environment and would work on that issue at the State House.

Hillman has positions similar to Healey's on several hot-button social issues. He said he supports a woman's right to choose abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy and supports civil unions for same-sex couples.

Kerry Healey -- Out of Touch had a great post yesterday handicapping the GOP LG sweepstakes. Somehow even they missed Hillman, despite listing just about every Massachusetts Republican left.

Brown Eager to be GOP LG

It looks like we're one step closer to Margery Egan's dream ticket. Today's Boston Herald reports that Sen. Scott Brown (R-Wrentham) is ready to run for Lieutenant Governor, if only Kerry Healey would tap him. Why the hold up? I'll let the Herald itself explain:

[O]ne Republican operative said party leaders are concerned about losing another Republican senator. There are only six now and GOP leader Brian Lees of Longmeadow is not running for re-election.

My hunch is that if the state GOP can't find a strong candidate for the Norfolk, Bristol & Middlesex District, they'll leave Brown waiting in the wings so they don't have to defend two open seats. I can certainly understand that they'd be a little gunshy after their setback in 2004 when they lost three seats in the legislature despite aggressive campaigning, a couple million of Governor Romney's own dollars and an unusually high number of GOP challengers. Any further losses, particularly in the Senate, would not only be embarrassing for the Republicans, but could also potentially leave important committees without any representation from their side of the aisle.

What a Difference a Few Hours Make

Just this morning, the Tom Reilly campaign was looking like a rejected suitor. A few hours later, with the announcement of Reilly's support for the candidacy of State Rep. Marie St. Fleur (D-Dorchester) as Lieutenant Governor, they're looking downright visionary in comparison. Just so long as you forget about all that Chris Gabrieli stuff from the weekend's news. The AP has more about St. Fleur, and I'll just say that I think she makes a better pick for Reilly in terms of ticket balance, but I still don't like the way he went about recruiting her on practically the last day before statewide candidates had to announce their intentions. I don't think it will end up mattering that she's Reilly's second choice (unless one of the other LG candidates makes a big deal out of it, and I see no reason why they should), but it still seems to me that Reilly went out of his way to alienate the other candidates for LG, in favor of someone who can be portrayed as part of the Beacon Hill establishment, fairly or not. Maybe that won't end up mattering, particularly since a couple of the Lieutenant Governor candidates were not considered 'serious' by the Democratic heavy hitters, and I would wager that a sizable number of Massachusetts voters don't realize that the Governor and Lieutenant are voted on seperately in the primary anyway. At the same time, the Reilly-as-insider narrative has been floating around all month, and it's only a matter of time before it congeals.

Gabrieli Declines to Run for Lieutenant Gov

The Boston Globe today announced that Chris Gabrieli has decided not to run for Lieutenant Governor. The Tom Reilly campaign had leaked last week that they were in talks with Gabrieli to run with the Attorney General as an informal ticket for the September primary. As of yesterday, it appeared that they were going to announce the formation of that ticket today, but apparently, Gabrieli has backed out. Frankly, I don't think this loss hurts the Reilly campaign as much as David does, but maybe they're wishing that they hadn't leaked the news last week.

From everything I've heard, Chris Gabrieli is a good Democrat, and has been a candidate in search of a race for a number of years. That said, I'm not sure what he would have added to the Reilly ticket other than money. Now, I know that money's important, but the idea of the all-but anointed gubernatorial candidate anointing his lieutenant wouldn't have helped Reilly's case that he's not the same-old Democratic insider that voters have found unappealing for years. While that depiction of him is not necessarily fair, the press coverage of late -- particularly the Conte phone call -- is creating this perception, almost as background noise. Sure, maybe it hurts Reilly for a day in the news that he didn't get who he wanted, but maybe it's better that he doesn't look like he's making backroom deals to pick his LG.

By the way, the Globe article contains this curious passage:

The negotiations over a Reilly/Gabrieli ticket came just days before Saturday's local party caucus around the state, where Patrick is expected to win a large share of the delegates to be chosen for the Democratic convention in June. The convention will endorse candidates for statewide office.

Reilly's low-key approach to wooing the Democratic rank and file has surprised party leaders. Even Reilly insiders concede that his aim is not to win the Democratic convention endorsement.

I think the Globe is making a mistake in assuming that Reilly is not working the caucuses -- I know he has the Lowell and Boston machines working for him, and they are certainly making an effort here in Watertown. Not only that, but I find the idea that Reilly would not win the endorsement at the convention as mildly absurd. I know the media likes to pretend that these things are chock full of liberal Democratic activists, but thanks to the rules change last year, the convention is now the largest collection of Massachusetts political insiders ever assembled. Something close to 40% of the delegates will be appointed or ex-officio. If Reilly is not focused on winning the convention it's because he doesn't have to.

Friday Leftovers

Like last Friday's post, here are a couple of the things that I collected over the course of the week, but never got a chance to write a full post about.

• Out of Control: A Film Series for Our Times: The Watertown Citizens for Environmental Safety is kicking off their new film series on Wednesday, February 8 at 7:30 p.m. with a showing of Control Room, the documentary on the Arab TV news network Al Jazeera, at the Studio Cinema in Belmont. Discussion to follow


• An Object at Rest: Finally, an excuse as to why my morning posts are so incoherent -- Sleep Inertia


• Click It: The seat belt law made it through the House yesterday and the Boston Globe has the roll call vote. Personally, I'm of two minds on this. Seat belts save lives -- my father would have been killed as a teenager if he hadn't been wearing one -- and since I'm always buckled in, the law doesn't really effect me. At the same time, it's so hard to tell if a driver speeding by you has their belt on, it seems to me that this is unenforceable unless unless we're all made to now have fluorescent seat belts installed.


• I Could See You Were a Man of Distinction: According to the Boston Herald, Mitt's burning through his state campaign account on fancy resorts and airfare. That's fine with me; every dime he spends on himself is one less he donates to the state party to spend on Kerry Healey.


• The Race for LG: The Boston Globe yesterday profiled the four Democratic candidates for Lieutenant Governor. That gave the fine folks at Blue Mass. Group an excuse to consolidate all their LG interviews in one handy place.


• Another New Blog: A belated welcome to Under the Golden Dome, which promises to be a "a blog that covers the 'insider' buzz among the young Democrats actually working at the State House." It's about time someone that knows something started a blog!


• Does This Make Cheney a Grue?: As someone who grew up playing (and eventually writing) text adventure games, this is hilarious. (via Boingboing)

What's on your mind?

Deb Goldberg in Belmont

On Tuesday, I infiltrated the Belmont Democratic Town Committee to see Lieutenant Governor Candidate Deborah Goldberg and Gubernatorial Candidate Deval Patrick. Patrick was impressive as always, and the room was packed by the time he started his talk. Goldberg was on before him and I had not seen her speak since the May convention, so I was interested to see what she has to offer. She spent the bulk of her time talking about local issues, which was a bit of a contrast from the other candidates. She drew heavily on her experiences as a Selectman in Brookline. That's a good way, I think, to make a quick connection with people who are involved in local politics -- DTC members, perhaps. As of last week, Goldberg was the only LG candidate who spoke the language of local government.

Of course, now that Worcester Mayor Tim Murray is in the LG race, that advantage disappears. Who's a better voice for Massachusetts cities and towns? A former Selectman from Brookline or the Mayor of the state's second biggest city? Sure, a city like Worcester has different concerns than many of the Commonwealth's smaller towns, but the big issues -- crime, development, budgeting -- are similar throughout Massachusetts. My hunch is that Murray's entry into the race pushes Goldberg from the candidate with local experience to the candidate who can self fund. Sometimes that's enough, particularly for a low-profile/low-stakes race like LG, but I'm sure Goldberg would rather be known for her experience than her pocketbook.

It's definitely too early to make any predictions on the Lieutenant Governor's race. The field is crowded with candidates that have little by the way of statewide name recognition, and there's always the chance that the gubernatorial candidates will make their favorites known. It will be interesting to see which of them has the best caucus organization come February to ensure a place on the ballot.

Sam Kelley on the Progressive Blog

Proving that Blue Mass. Group doesn't have a monopoly on prospective Lieutenant Governor interviews, Charlie Gallo of The Progressive Blog has posted an interview of his own with Dr. Sam Kelley, who is one of the three Democratic candidates who have announced so far. Here's a sample:

I’m running for lieutenant governor because I believe in Massachusetts. I believe in the people of Massachusetts. And I believe we deserve the right to health care, that our children deserve a quality education, and that all of our families deserve a guarantee of jobs and benefits to take care of their families.

I may not have held public office but I probably have more political and legislative experience than the others. I worked in Washington, D.C. I was a legislative assistant for U.S. congressman Jim McDermott. I worked with the Clinton Administration on health care, and worked to formulate their health care plans. For over 18 years, I worked with John Kerry, not only with fundraising, but also with definition of his policy around education and around health care. And I worked very hard with him on the presidential campaign. For over 10 years, I advocated on Beacon Hill, through the Mass Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, I’ve advocated for family issues, for substance abuse issues, I’ve advocated for sex offenders’ treatments, as well as protection of the public against level three sex offenders, and I’ve advocated for children’s issues.

Being a doctor, Kelley has a number of things to say about the diffrent Health Care reform initiatives, which you can read yourself. Also of note is that Kelley has a brand-new blog of his own. It will be interesting to see what he does with it in the coming year.

Herald: Reilly to Annoint his Lieutenant?

Blue Mass. Group has made it their mission to shed some light on the 2006 Lieutenant Governor's race, but if this Herald report is right, it might not make any difference. Sources are telling the Herald that Attorney General Tom Reilly, the 2006 Democratic frontrunner for the nomination, may plan to pick his running mate. Of course, whoever Reilly taps (if he even ends up doing so) will still have to win the primary, but if Reilly wins and most Reilly voters follow his advice, he'll likely end up getting the candidate he wants, particularly in such a normally low-profile race. In 2002, both of the victorious candidates did this and both got the LG they supported; Shannon O'Brien picked Chris Gabrielli who got just shy of 50% of the vote in a three person race and Mitt Romney reneged on his promise to stay neutral and backed Kerry Healey who trounced Jim Rappaport by nearly thirty points. Personally, I can understand why a candidate would want to control the process -- after all, the President gets to pick his running mate, why not a Governor? On the other hand, and the article points this out, someone who wins the Lieutenant Governor's race on their own is likely to have a statewide campaign network and supporters that the winning gubernatorial candidate can leverage in the general election, particularly since the primary is so close to the general. If the candidates run as a team from the beginning, they don't get this shot of new blood.