Well, So Much for That

Remember when Tom Reilly was just a run-of-the-mill, blowhard, establishment Democrat whose judgment we were starting to question because he used his office to do favors for friends (and possibly interfere with a criminal investigation along the way)? Bostonist does, and man, those were the days. Yesterday, when revelations of Marie St. Fleur's financial problems came to the fore, Bostonist was still willing to suppose that the AG could pull this thing out with a little creative spin. St. Fleur, apparently, did not have so much confidence, so the Lieutenant-Governor-candidate-for-a-day withdrew. Bringing Reilly back to where he started, except worse.

The conventional wisdom seems to be that Reilly cannot bounce back from this, and Bostonist is starting to agree. The Southboro car crash was whatever, especially after the Governor made the whole thing thoroughly trite by getting involved and making Reilly cry. Going against the better judgment of our blogging colleagues, we thought the St. Fleur thing might be OK, too. But the St. Fleur-no-St. Fleur two-step leaves Reilly pretty much - how to put this? - fucked. He can't exactly turn to all those would-be LGs he summarily jilted in favor of St. Fleur, can he?

Perhaps soccerguy, who commented on our post yesterday about this developing mess, was right: Reilly should step aside while there's still time. Soccerguy suggests Martha Coakley as a stand-in. Bostonist would rather see Reilly throw his support to Deval Patrick for a unified Democratic front (not likely, we know, but still). Since the Reilly campaign obviously can't tell its collective ass from a hole in the ground, it is clearly incumbent upon you, dear readers, to answer the question: What should Tom and the Dems do now?