I'm a Massachusetts voter, and I think it's pretty easy to explain Deval Patrick's huge gains in recent polls and Chris Gabrieli's matching kamikaze dive. That's because I wasn't planning to vote in the primary two weeks ago. Now I am, for Deval Patrick.
It's this simple: Patrick's campaign is running advertisements in which Patrick touts progressive Democratic concerns. On the other hand, Gabrieli has been running ads that argue, "It shouldn't matter whether an idea is Democratic or Republican, as long as it works."
That clears things up well enough for me!
Before I saw these ads side-by-side, I didn't know whether I'd bother voting in the MA primary. I just didn't know much about the candidates. But if one candidate is tacking straight towards "Romney Democrats" in the primary, and one is taking the opposite approach, and one is apparently out of the running -- well, I wouldn't miss voting against the Romney Lite candidate for the world! Patrick's flat-out endorsement of Democratic priorities looks very courageous by comparison to Gabrieli, and by comparison to most Democrats, for that matter.
From now on, ANY Democratic candidate who relies on the subtext that "I'll temper my Democratic ideals with pragmatic Republican know-how" is dead to me. That's not because I don't believe in pragmatic government. I want thoughtful, balanced candidates, not raving partisans. But I also believe that the ideas of the modern Republican Party have been proven useless and wrong, time and again, over the past several decades. Enough is enough. There is room for plenty of disagreement within the Democratic Party, but there's no room for tacking towards the party of Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Bush.
Sure, I'll be interested in cross-party cooperation when there are two sane, honest parties in this country. (And God knows there's room for more than two opinions in America!) But as long as the Republican Party welcomes thieves, racists and war criminals into its ranks, I cannot tolerate quisling messages like Gabrieli's. I cannot tolerate candidates who temper their support for the Democratic Party to win elections as Democrats.
Yes, I used to believe in "electability." Not anymore. Better the devil with the (R) behind his name than the devil with the (D)! If I have to stare at this parade of evil from the sidelines, helpless and furious -- and apparently, I do -- then I would rather see "unelectable" Democrats in the same position. I want my representatives disenfranchised, mad as hell and desperate for change. I do not want to vote for comfortable members of a permanent minority who whine, cringe, temporize, and never, ever retire!
I would rather vote for a losing candidate with Patrick's message -- and, frankly, "Potted Plant (D)" could not lose the Massachusetts governorship right now -- than watch a faux bipartisan whimper his way through a term of missed opportunities. I am encouraged by any sign that Massachusetts, at least, feels the same way.