When Gov. Deval Patrick and Lt. Gov. Tim Murray visited Attleboro recently, only 35 Democrats came out to greet them.
The next day a handful of Democrats turned out to hear candidates for state auditor, state Senate and state representative speak.
Meanwhile, 130 supporters of Republican state Rep. Richard Ross paid $50 each for a fundraising dinner, and about 70 people reportedly attended an Attleboro Republican City Committee meeting.
[Democratic] political consultant Michael Goldman said the problem is Massachusetts Democrats are angry about the results of Republican Scott Brown’s upset win in the special U.S. Senate race, a race Democrats feel they should have won easily.
It’s hard to explain to folks outside the Bay State just how huge a sea change this is. Six months ago you practically had to waterboard people here to admit they were Republicans. I spoke to GOP groups where we openly speculated on the value of supporting independent candidates vs. Republicans because of the damage to the brand here in Massachusetts.
Now Democrats can’t rent a crowd up here, but just mention you’re even thinking about meeting a Republican for a drink, and ten strangers show up to buy the first round.
The Democratic establishment’s mantra for months has been “Governor Patrick is a lousy candidate, but he’s going to win, anyway, because it’s Massachusetts.” Not anymore. Patrick’s a 50-50 shot at best, even with Democrat-turned-Independent state Treasurer Tim Cahill in the race. And Bill Delahunt is all but certain to abandon is doomed re-election bid.
If it’s this bad for Democrats in Massachusetts, one can only imagine the doom-and-gloom in places like Indiana.