Related: Baker Rising
"Coakley strikes a defiant note as polls tip" by Frank Phillips | Globe Staff October 25, 2014
Democrat Martha Coakley and her advisers, facing new polling that shows her losing ground to rival Charlie Baker, are fighting to prove she is still in the race, hastily convening two late-night conference calls to rally her troops and striking a note of defiance during a rally Friday with Hillary Rodham Clinton.
That is what usually happens before a loss.
"More than 1,500 stalwart Coakley supporters, some of whom had traveled from Worcester and Lynn, packed into the Imperial Ballroom at the Park Plaza hotel, where they heard Clinton encourage them to “knock on doors. Send those e-mails. Make those phone calls. Talk to every voter you can find.” Clinton’s appearance was one of many she has made for Democrats around the country this election season. Her Friday schedule also included an appearance for US Representative Mike Michaud, the Democratic candidate for governor in Maine. Next weekend, she plans to appear at a rally for US Senator Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire."
Honestly, I don't think it helped.
“We are in a dead heat,” Coakley said at the rally, despite a series of polls in the governor’s race showing Baker gaining momentum, including a Globe survey that gave the Republican a 9-point edge less than two weeks before the Nov. 4 election.
After the poll was released Thursday night, her advisers immediately put together the conference calls at 9:30 p.m. with about 50 political supporters, financial backers, and union leaders to blunt the survey’s impact and fortify her coalition of top supporters.
Senior campaign adviser Doug Rubin, in the conference call and in an interview Friday, sought to douse the growing perception, even among Coakley loyalists, that Baker is gaining momentum. He particularly zeroed in on the Globe poll, saying it was an “outlier” that would only energize Coakley’s supporters.
During the conference calls, Rubin and campaign manager Tim Foley walked the Coakley supporters through the campaign’s internal polling, which shows the race closer, and emphasized their superior strength in getting voters to the polls on election day.
I've seen this all before.
Rubin and Foley told the group that the notion that Baker was moving into the lead is “spin’’ by the political establishment.
You guys are the political establishment in Massachusetts!
“We have thousands of volunteers working the grass roots, knocking on doors, talking to their friends and neighbors, and engaging on social media,’’ Rubin said in a statement Friday. “They understand that Martha is fighting for all of us, while Charlie Baker is the darling of the insiders and special interests.”
Rubin said the Coakley campaign pollster, Tom Kiley, a respected Democrat veteran of Massachusetts polling, showed Baker leading by only two points, 44 to 42, in a recent sample of 1,200 likely voters.
“If anything, the Globe poll being such an outlier has fired up our supporters and caused them to redouble their outreach efforts in support of Martha,’’ he said. “Our supporters and volunteers know that the results of the Globe poll are not what they are seeing on the ground, and they are more motivated then ever to make history by making Martha Coakley the first women elected governor of Massachusetts.”
A WBUR poll this week gave Baker a 1-point lead, 43-42, well within the margin of error. That survey also showed momentum in Baker’s favor.
Baker’s campaign tweaked Coakley for criticizing the polls.
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With just over a week to go, Coakley is entering the toughest part of her long quest to redeem her stature — how to change the dynamics of the race without seeming desperate.
This all comes in the last frenetic week in which Republicans have an almost 3-to-1 advantage in television advertising. Despite speculation that their effectiveness is waning, such ads have proven to be a major factor in this race.
Call it balan$e (Massachusetts is 3-to-1 Democrat over Republican).
Campaign analysts and some Democratic supporters say Coakley faces a huge task in making sure Baker does not continue to build a lead. “The opportunity to do something is quickly passing,’’ said Lou DiNatale, a Democratic pollster. “She is in a stall and she needs to throw the long ball.’’
I love the football analogies.
Maurice Cunningham, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston, agreed. He said it is very rare for there to be a game-changer in the final days of a statewide campaign.
He also said it will be tough for Coakley to energize Democrats, particularly because any sense that she may be on the verge of losing another race raises the memories of her US Senate campaign in 2010.
“Democrats are going to be discouraged and that complicates her problem, particularly because of the memories of the US Senate race,’’ he said.
At about this point in that Senate race, Coakley began to see Republican Scott Brown gain ground and eventually pass her in the final run-up to the election. Her loss shook the national political world and was a huge humiliation for her. Since then, she has restored her political standing among Massachusetts Democrats, easily winning reelection and then a three-way Democratic gubernatorial primary this year.
And now it will cop me crashing down again.
Grossman voters left for Baker. Blame them.
Meanwhile, Baker, who himself is trying to resurrect a damaged political career following his clumsy 2010 race against Governor Deval Patrick, is trying to reach Election Day with as little controversy as possible.
Advisers say his closing message will play on his dual strategy — energizing his antitax, tough-on-welfare fiscal conservative base while trying to lure moderate and even liberal Democrats and independents who can buy into his stance he can balance budget-efficiency with compassion.
The challenge for Baker will be to make it through the final days without making a misstep that would play into the Democrat’s hands.
He has made a few in the course of the campaign, mostly coming in off-hand comments. While he has been gaffe-free in recent weeks, the tensions and the building weariness from a long campaign can test the best of candidates.
And down the stretch they come!
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Related: Martha Coakley bests Charlie Baker on early education
But not in the polls.
Anyone else to vote for?
"Gubernatorial candidates differ on role of state in immigration" by Travis Andersen | Globe Staff October 25, 2014
The three independents on the Nov. 4 ballot, Evan Falchuk, Scott Lively, and Jeff McCormick, also offered their thoughts. The candidates did not engage each other, but answered questions posed by the panelists and audience members at the forum, which was billed as “A Conversation with Our Next Governor.’’
Like the other hopefuls, McCormick steered clear of specifics when asked about state solutions on immigration, but he appeared to leave the door open for Massachusetts officials to have a say in the matter.
“People cannot live their lives in fear,” he said to applause from the crowd.
Why not? Been doing it since 9/11.
Falchuk maintained that forming a coalition to pressure Washington is “not an answer” for undocumented residents of Massachusetts.
“We have to have the common sense to figure out how to handle this here in our state,” he said.
Lively drew groans when he said that people who “cheat their way’’ into the country should not be rewarded.....
:-)
He's my guy.
On the housing front, Lively tied housing shortages to “a breakdown” in the traditional family structure.
Even housing is a war, and we know who is winning.
Before the forum began, Governor Deval Patrick, a Democrat, received an award from El Mundo for his efforts on behalf of the Latino community.
No wonder Lively was booed.
“You should expect your governor to see you,” Patrick told the crowd in brief remarks when he accepted the award. “You are an important part of our Commonwealth.”
*************
But before Coakley could continue, a woman in the audience of more than 200 spectators leaped to her feet and shouted, “Why aren’t you talking about undocumented people?”
She quickly exited the auditorium with a group of supporters, leaving the candidates to continue discussing whether Massachusetts should play a role in addressing immigration issues at the state level, or its elected leaders should focus on pressing Washington....
Related: Hou$e Politics
Not a winning issue for Democrats.
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"Partners HealthCare leader to step down" by Shirley Leung | Globe Staff October 25, 2014
Gary Gottlieb said Friday that he will step down next year as chief executive of Partners HealthCare, which is facing stiff opposition to expansion plans that would give the state’s largest hospital system even more clout.
Gottlieb, who has held the job for five years, will leave in July 2015 to become the chief executive of Partners in Health, the Boston-based nonprofit that provides medical care in Haiti and other impoverished countries.
The Partners HealthCare network comprises 10 hospitals, including Brigham and Women’s and Massachusetts General hospitals in Boston, and more than 6,000 physicians. It is separate from Partners in Health.
In an interview in his office in the Prudential Tower, Gottlieb said he serves on the board of Partners in Health and was asked to consider leading the organization after its executive director announced in May she would leave that role.
Gottlieb said he plans to stay fully in charge of Partners HealthCare until he leaves. “I am the CEO,” he said. “Nothing has changed in terms of my responsibilities.”
In particular, Gottlieb will stay involved with hammering out Partners’ pending settlement to expand. “I’m the final word around that,” he said.
Partners HealthCare said Gottlieb, 59, is not being pushed out, despite having a contract with five more years on it.
At the same time, it is no secret that the health care giant is an unsettled place these days, in part because of a contentious settlement negotiated with Attorney General Martha Coakley over Partners’ plan to take over....
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