Last Thursday, I collected my lazy ass and went down to Town Hall to secure my absentee ballot. The clerk asked if I was ready to vote today and I said sure. If anyone is an educated voter, I am, so I thought it was going to be a quick process. It took me all of .3 seconds to vote for Deval Patrick, turns out my second choice took quite a bit longer.
Andrea Silbert
Tim Murray
Deborah Goldberg
Who the hell deserved my vote?
For months I've been primarily going back and forth between Deb and Andrea, but I've also liked Tim. I like Tim because he really does have a great record in Worcester. Mayor may just be a fancy title for City Councilor in his case, but his ideas and contributions have definitely been a part of the solution in Worcester. I see Worcester's progress as something that needs to be emulated in cities like Springfield, New Bedford, Fall River, Lynn and Lowell if Massachusetts is going to recover as a welcoming place for new job growth and fair housing costs for people of all classes. If Tim Murray could help precipitate that, he'd make an excellent choice for Lt. Governor.
Deborah Goldberg was the person I was ultimately leaning towards over the past month or so, mainly because I thought she'd be a great foil for Deval Patrick. He was the grassroots guy, she had lots of money. Give Deval some cash and it would go a long way. However, I realized he's raising money hand over foot, so he wouldn't need Deb Goldberg's money to get his message out. She also had some other qualities I liked about her: she'd balance the ticket with a female presence, she's sufficiently liberal on a lot of important issues, she's competent... but nothing really jumps out.
Now comes the fact that she doesn't support Cape Wind, while Timmeh thinks Mum's the word. The only LG candidate who openly supports Cape Wind is Andrea Silbert, but I didn't realize that until after I voted for Andrea. It seems like my vote has already been rewarded. Ultimately, Andrea Silbert earned my vote by displaying the best vision and showing the most confidence. Seeing her speak along with the other candidates, they all stand out as competent and worthy of office, but Andrea has a lot of the same qualities that makes Deval Patrick so inspiring. Andrea is a great speaker and is someone I'd have no problem with being Governor if anything tragic happened to Patrick. She has a good background, is inspiring broad support and raising a lot of money the right way.
Any of the candidates seem like a good choice, but Silbert is a great one. That's why I voted for her and I urge readers to do the same.
Further reading: For a different take, Mass Marrier likes Timmey.
[Note to readers: I like all of the choices for Lt. Governor, including Tim Murray. If I didn't like them, I wouldn't have said so to begin with. Let's not read meaning into nicknames that just isn't there.]
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8 comments:
Ryan...Let's try and be honest...anyone who has followed your posts for the past months knows exactly who you were voting for so your left-handed compliments to Murray and Goldberg came off a bit smarmy.
For the record...Andrea and Tim have held the same position on Cape Wind throughout the camapign...but once Gabrieli polled on the question and released the results, Andrea quickly put her finger to the wind and just as quickly made up her mind.
Truth be told, it was Goldberg who had the courage to disagree with Uncle Ted in public. And Murray has been forthright about supporting wind power as an alternative...why not! He has supported many wind projects in Central and Western Mass before there was ever a Cape Wind to talk about..see there is life beyond 128 and 495!
hl peary, I totally swear 2 weeks ago I was leaning on Deb Goldberg. Voting for Andrea Silbert was a last minute decision and I only even started mulling over her after I saw the NECN mini-debate, before I was DEFINITELY leaning towards Goldberg.
And I don't think my compliments are that off handed, especially for Timmey! I really, truly think he's a great choice.
And on Tim's position on Cape Wind, he could definitely be in support of it and I was just misinformed. My only knowledge on his stance came from that BMG post I linked - and if you can provide an article showing Tim's support or some quotes, I'll GLADLY update this peice (and probably even make a whole new blog about it).
PS: peary, just for evidence that I didn't support Silbert for months - look at who I "strongly support." If I thought Silbert was so much better than the other candidates, she'd be there... but because I think they're all great choices, I'm not going to "strongly support" any of them.
oh wait, I just reread your second paragraph and realized I got it wrong at first. You said they shared the same position up until Andrea went in support of it.
Furthermore, you said she went and supported it because it polled high. Well, it polls high because it's the right thing to do... and politicians seeing something is the right thing to do is a good thing, so while she wasn't early in the game (which is preferable), she at least was convinced - be it poll numbers, trends of shifting support, etc.
It seems silly to criticize her for shifting her support on it when at least she shifted it, when Tim Murray has yet to officially do so.
Like I said - I really like Tim Murray and his record in Worcester is great; he clearly deserves a shot to emulate it across the state in some capacity. If he wins, I'll be a very happy man. If Andrea or Deb wins, I'll be a very happy man.
My whole point in this blog was that they were all great candidates, not just why I voted for Silbert. Taking it as an attack on the other candidates is definitely putting words into my mouth that just aren't there because I could easily rally around any of them (I've never seen such a strong crop of Lt. Governors IMHO).
The fact that you would refer to Tim Murray as "Timmeh" or "Timmy" was clue enough of your disrespect...you do not refer to Debbie or Andie in your posts...no one in the universe refers to Murray that way...accept you...sorry to out you.
Oy. Someone needs a little more bran.
Of course, "Timmeh" makes me think of Wakefield.
LOL okay Peary. I just love Timmeh, Timmy and frequently make up my own nicknames. Read more of my posts and I frequently do stuff like that, it's my style. If you read my posts description of what I think of him, I actually think it's glowing.
Timmeh Wakefield rocks my socks. I think his loss is why we're tanking, even more so than Viratek.
Just some advice, but debating high strung people who troll your blog to whine and attack you is probably a bad idea, it only encourages them and they have a lot of time on their hands. :) It's your blog, you don't need to defend yourself. "Uncle Ted"? lol
Good advice anon =p
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