Republican Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez is trying to distance himself from the national GOP. This proves that, in addition to being a successful businessman and former Navy SEAL, Gomez also knows how to count.
The race for John Kerry’s old Senate seat hasn’t yet been about Gomez and Rep. Ed Markey, the two men squaring off for the seat. Instead, it’s been a series of small proxy battles over the national Republican Party.
The AP notes that the most remarkable thing about Gomez’s stump speech is the degree to which Gomez defines himself in opposition to the folks he hopes to join in Washington. He casts himself as a “moderate Washington outsider beholden neither to his party nor special interests,” as a “green Republican,” as a supporter of gay rights and immigration reform, and as a critic of the National Rifle Association’s tactics.
As Gomez is a political novice with no record to savage, Markey has tried attacking Gomez by linking him to unpopular national Republican positions on assault weapons and women’s health. Aside from an early grab at some blue-collar street cred via an ice cream truck he drove several decades ago, Markey’s pitch to voters hasn’t really been about himself; it’s been about politics on a level above himself. That’s why he name-checks the president frequently, and why he had Sen. Elizabeth Warren cut a YouTube video that tried to convince the electorate that supporting Markey would almost be like voting for Warren all over again.
There’s math behind each candidate’s angling. Markey saw how Warren surged past former Sen. Scott Brown around Labor Day last year, largely on the basis of tying Brown to a tremendously unlikeable crop of national Republicans. That gambit solidified Warren’s standing among Democrats and women, and it eroded Brown’s standing among independents. Warren wound up beating Brown by 8 points because she won women by 18, because she kept the race close enough with independents, and because she headed off the defection of large numbers of registered Democrats. By contrast, when Brown beat Martha Coakley, he only lost women by three points, he captured 17 percent of the Democratic vote, and he ran up a 31-point margin among independents.
Republicans win in Massachusetts when they run well with women voters, peel off some Democrats, and run away with the independent vote; Democrats win when they tamp down the run on independent voters and let their numerical advantages carry the day. That’s why Makey has been working so hard to tie Gomez to the national GOP, and why Gomez has been vigorously working to stand apart from his party.
The most recent poll in the race — a May 15 release from Public Policy Polling — shows that Gomez isn’t in a position to repeat Brown’s 2010 Senate upset just yet. Gomez trails Markey by 7 points in that poll, despite being up by 23 points among independents; he trails Markey with women by 8 points. But the Public Policy poll also indicates that there’s middle ground waiting to be claimed: Gomez is personally popular among independents, who also have a sharply negative view of Markey. That’s as good an indication as any that, until June 25, Gomez is going to be putting a lot more distance between himself and his party.
–PAUL MCMORROW
BEACON HILL
As the state diverts more and more tobacco taxes to balance the budget, smoking prevention programs go up in smoke, the Boston University Statehouse Program reports (via Lowell Sun).
A Herald editorial knocks the Legislature for passing a $34 billion budget, calling the figure too large, but the paper offers praise for EBT reforms embedded in the spending bill.
The Beat the Press panel examines the media treatment of departing Lt. Gov. Tim Murray and concludes the Boston press is tepid toward politicians from central and western Massachusetts, Murray’s early morning car crash and ties to indicted housing official Michael McLaughlin notwithstanding. Keller@Large has a little back and forth with political reporter David Bernstein about Murray’s future, as well as their takes on the special Senate election.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
A state IT official says many small communities in Massachusetts are not doing enough to protect sensitive computer data such as tax records and payroll and suggested the towns band together to hire a professional to monitor and safeguard the information.
The Haverhill City Council is asking Mayor James Fiorentini to explore the purchase of the local ice rink from the state, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
The former chairman of the now-defunct and often dysfunctional Swansea Recreation Commission says he’ll release town records officials have demanded for a $2,500 retainer and $100 an hour to print the materials.
Lynn is preparing to spend $200,000 replacing school doors this summer, the Item reports.
Massport plans to replace, but not add any moorings in Manchester, the Gloucester Times reports.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
The National Review pans Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s student loan bill, saying it is fraught with inaccuracies and falsities; the conservative publication sees the bill as a metaphor for Warren’s campaign.
ELECTIONS
In something of a dog-bites-man story, the Globe notes that lawyers figure prominently on the donor list of Boston mayoral hopeful — and longtime Suffolk DA — Dan Conley.
New York’s mayoral contest is so full of great copy that the spiteful, anti-Bloomberg candidacy of the city’s scandal-plagued comptroller is only the race’s fifth-best storyline. And yes, Anthony Weiner is enjoying himself.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Yahoo, fresh off a $1.1 billion buyout of Tumblr, now wants to grab Hulu.
Michael Bloomberg wants to destroy the taxi industry; the Atlantic outlines how he could do it.
EDUCATION
Some states are pushing back against the new Common Core education standards, the Associated Press reports (via Miami Herald). The Pioneer Institute’s Jamie Gass and Charlie Chieppo assail the standards in a Wall Street Journal op-ed column.
Despite a voter-approved $1.5 million Proposition 2 1/2 override, the superintendent of the Freetown-Lakeville Regional School District says there will be a staff reduction for the upcoming school year.
The Globe explores the growing controversy over colleges’ use of merit aid to woo top students at the expense of need-based aid for those with the greatest financial need.
Illinois bans new online charter schools for a year, the Chicago Tribune reports.
HEALTH CARE
Angelina Jolie’s aunt dies from breast cancer two weeks after the Hollywood star revealed she had a double mastectomy to avoid the same fate, the BBC reports.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
The Globe’s Derrick Jackson offers a full-page column on how New Bedford is looking to a German port for how to become a hub for the offshore wind industry. Meanwhile, Germany is struggling with the soaring cost of its green revolution, Time reports.
John Kerry finds himself at the center of the Keystone XL pipeline decision-making.
Attorney General Martha Coakley and state Senate President Therese Murray (whose district includes the Plymouth nuclear power plant) are weighing in to support stalled federal legislation to establish a permanent site for nuclear waste storage.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
A Fall River man who calls himself “Captain Recovery” was arrested and charged with threatening Mayor Will Flanagan after going to the office and demanding to see Flanagan, allegedly telling his secretary he wanted to “take care of business” with the former prosecutor who put him in jail for 15 months.
Hundreds of Boston police officers interested in seeking promotions are in career limbo because a judge has yet to rule in a two-year old case alleging racial discrimination in the department’s promotion practices.
Lawrence District Court is banning cell phones inside the court, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
Hingham police arrested 16 minors and one adult over the weekend at a raucous drinking party, and plan to cite a homeowner with violating the social host law after the officers were pelted with beer bottles when they arrived at the house.
MEDIA
Dan Kennedy has a remembrance of former talk show host Gene Burns who “transited the meridian” over the weekend.
Buzzfeed, CNN, and YouTube plan an online video channel, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Why the British are taking over American media and why Andrew Sullivan is spot-on about the trend.