MittWatch: Did Romney Just Throw Healey Under the Bus?

Bostonist has always been a little creeped out by Kerry Healey, icy ex-lieutenant governor and former gubernatorial candidate. She is best known for staying politely in Mitt Romney's shadow during his stint as governor and for getting into madcap verbal spats with rival Christy Mihos during the governors' debates. (Seriously, their fights were comic gold.)

Healey lost for many reasons. For starters, the victor, Deval Patrick, was dynamic, whereas Healey had all the pizzazz of a milk carton. But her loss wasn't entirely her fault. Her platform was to continue the status quo—the status quo set by Romney.

Healey's loss might be considered a referendum on Romney's reign. When she got rejected, the voters indicated they'd had enough of Romney and his crew and promptly installed the kind of liberal that would make the New, Improved, Right-Wing Romney break out in hives.

Now that hometown papers the Globe and the Herald have rejected him in favor of endorsing John McCain, Romney wants to make his relationship with Massachusetts seem better than it really was. His first step in that battle is to make it look like Kerry Healey's loss was entirely her fault. Here's what Romney said at a speech in Merrimack:

"I think the endorsement of a candidate for the person that follows them is important, but I must admit, overwhelmingly, the most important is the candidate — him or herself — and their campaign."

Since that quotation is full of the twisted syntax that often appears in political speeches, Bostonist can't help but hope—just a little bit—that he didn't mean it and was misquoted. Why? Because Healey took a gamble and molded herself in his image, and look where it got her.

Image of Healey speaking from the Interagency Council on Homelessness.