The Governor's Race: An Update

Tom Reilly: You may remember Tom Reilly - he used to be the presumptive Democratic nominee, and as the A.G., he holds the job (Attorney General) that Democrats in this Commonwealth assume is the best stepping stone to the governorship (despite evidence to the contrary). He was the plain vanilla Mass. Democrat - liberal-ish, but not too liberal and, above all else, well connected. But a few months back, he started his campaign out with a series of bad missteps. So lately he's been playing it kind of low key - trying to do Attorney General-type stuff and keep himself out of further trouble. Not surprisingly, though, his main focus lately has been possibly abusive insurance and lending rates for homeowners. Coincidentally (?) a big offender in the realm of predatory lending to homeowners is Ameriquest, the parent company of which happens to have had, until recently, a board member named Deval Patrick. And who is this Deval Patrick, you ask?
Deval Patrick: Patrick is the much more liberal (and charismatic) Democratic offering. For a while, especially when Tom Reilly seemed to be stumbling early and often, Patrick appeared to be surging, but he's leveled off a little of late, and been dogged by incidents that, while not quite scandalous, haven't looked so good. For instance, there was the revelation by right-wing local blog Hub Politics that a testimonial on Patrick's website about how great the candidate is, which seems to come from some random person (Amy G. of Wellesley) is actually from his campaign co-chair (Amy Gorin). Patrick bounced gracefully back from that by asking for help from lefty blog Blue Mass. Group to create a transparency policy. Not long afterward, Patrick was bouncing back again, announcing he was quitting the board of directors of the parent of Ameriquest and seeming awfully vulnerable in the process. Patrick is still the odds-on favorite to get the democratic nod at the convention on June second, but he's showing some cracks, and rightly so - Bostonist can tell you that it's hard for us ultra-liberals to embrace a liberal with a corporate background.

Chris Gabrieli: Once on the short list to be Reilly's running mate, Gabrieli got jilted during l'Affair St. Fleur and grumpily threw his own hat into the ring so late that the state democratic party had to bend some rules to allow him to contend at the upcoming convention. Gabrieli, of Boston, is a wicked-rich venture capitalist and heavily civically involved guy - he's always on everybody's task force and think tank and committee and such (even the Mayor's task force on After-School Time, which may be important but still makes Bostonist giggle). He ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 2002, and we'd love it if that gave a possible Gabrieli-Healey battle the feeling of a grudge match, but really LGs are just hired wallets, so forget that. As far as policy goes, Gabrieli seems to be Reilly minus all the missteps - generally moderate, big into stem cell research as the balm to salve Massachusetts's economic wounds, and generally unoffensive. Also, as mentioned, he's rich, which suits him well to run against Republican Healey and independent Christy Mihos. "Who?" you say? Here's who:

Christy Mihos: Another latecomer (relatively speaking) to the campaign, Mihos is running as an independent on a platform of, um, we're not sure what. Mihos, of West Yarmouth, is the owner, with his brother, of the Christy's Markets chain of convenience stores. He used to be head of the Turnpike Authority, where he fought tolls and exposed Big Dig overspending, and he's selling himself as an independent, no-nonsense kind of guy. He also tried to sell himself as an up-by-his-own-bootstraps kind of guy and a paid-his-own-way-through-college kind of guy, but it turned out that wasn't exactly true. He also started his campaign off terribly, with weird, off-color sex jokes. Everyone seems to make Mihos for the spoiler, but Bostonist wonders whether a weird iconoclast with no big-time policy selling points and even stay relevant.

Kerry Healey: Lieutenant Governor Healey is the the Republican nominee for governor. She's moderate in the Mass. Republican mold (but, like, moderate for real, not pretend moderate like the Governor) and super rich on account of her husband, a super rich businessman who has promised lots o' dough to her campaign. In what seems to be a trend, Healey started off her campaign with a weird announcement demanding more accountability from state judges, an issue that Bostonist frankly doubts most voters care about a lot. She's lately tried to distance herself from Mitt Romney's conservatism, notably by endorsing stem cell research and going a little easier on illegal immigrants. Her other main pitch is to warn gravely of the dangers of a one-party state. While this strikes Bostonist as a little bit weird, it may not be so crazy: Massachusetts is a state that consistently has enormous Democratic majorities in the legislature and Republican governors. Maybe Healey is just reminding people to go with what they know.