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.