Five Things to Remember this November

Every time I think of why people shouldn't vote for someone like Scott Brown, Mitt Romney or Richard Tisei, my mind immediately goes to great lengths to come up with things about complicated policy reasons people aren't going to remember. Sometimes, it's the simple things that count -- and will allude to the more complicated things anyway.

Here's five simple things that you should tell your friends, family and neighbors for this November. 

• If a candidate has a Swiss bank account, a Cayman Islands bank account and a bank account in Bermuda, one he kept secret while in office, you should probably vote for the other guy.
• For as much as Republicans politicians like to rail against government, it's amazing just how much they love it when it comes to extracting everything they from it for their Wall St. friends. Wars they can't pay for (or finish)? Check. Bailing out the banks and giving tax loopholes to Fortune 500 Companies? Check. Then, when all the money's gone, they'll try to use your Social Security funds to pay for it.
• If a candidate's entire campaign is based on how nice his family is, he doesn't have anything to to run on. If he does so while talking about how much time he spends with his family during the daytime as an office holder, that means he wasn't doing his job.
• If a candidate runs on being a moderate, but will vote for John Boehner or Mitch McConnell, he's lying.

Today's Globe: 6 *more* pages of Scott Brown fluff

After taking a whack at Elizabeth Warren for an entire month with near-daily headlines about manufactured racial bating stories, what would the Boston Globe have in store for Scott Brown, now that they've decided we're into electoral politic's hard hitting journo season?

Fear not, dear readers, the Globe had six entire pages dedicated to Scott Brown today, covering

• the scandal about how Senator Brown's dead set against health care reform, while his daughter benefits from it and even Chief Justice Roberts ruled for it 
• the Senator's reluctance to debate in New Bedford or Worcester to answer questions relevant to those communities, even while his opponent agreed to one of his radio debates 
• why Senator Brown's saying he's for keeping student loan rates affordable, when he's the principal guy behind blocking current efforts in the Senate

Oh, hell, what did it cover? 

For Brown, campaign an all-out family affair 

Senator's wife and daughters now helping to soften image of the man with the truck 

WRENTHAM — Scott Brown is at the stove, preparing bacon and cheese omelets, tossing eggshells into the sink with scarcely a glance, each one a perfect shot. Gail Huff is at the breakfast table, reminiscing about her early days as a TV reporter, talking up her husband’s cooking. But the star of the show is the fridge. 

A standard issue side-by-side ­model, nearly every inch of its face is plastered with snapshots and magnets, children’s drawings and certificates of achievement, ticket stubs and local press clippings. The collaged photos show daughters Ayla and ­Arianna through the years — Girl Scouts, Little League, prom night, college — but there are glimpses of Brown and Huff, too. 

One shows him a decade ago, a ­little-known state legislator in full Gene Simmons makeup and giant shoulder pads, one more anonymous KISS fan rocking with his tongue out. Another from 2010 shows how much their lives have changed: Huff hugs the real Gene Simmons, after he invited them backstage because he wanted to meet Brown, the man who wrested Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat from the Democrats.

That's just the first three paragraphs. Dear god, help us all.

On the off chance that there's anything important happening in Massachusetts or the country at large -- oh, I don't know, like a jobs crisis or hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts citizens being under water on their mortgages -- I sent a letter to the Globe's writer of this fluffenuttery goodness. Here were my last few words for him.

He's running an entire campaign dedicated on steering the campaign away from any kind of serious issue or problem facing Massachusetts or the country, constantly engaging in Straw Mans and issues that have no bearing on regular people. Why is the media enabling him? 

There are serious issues in this race and the voters of Massachusetts deserve a media that's going to hold our Senators' feet to the fire, especially during political campaigns. That is your responsibility as a journalist. Please live up to it.

Pretty please?

Meanwhile, it's time to resurrect the Fake News tag, because when there's critically important stuff going on in Massachusetts and around the world, stories like this are a steaming pile of crap.

Video: Scott Brown's Royal Blunder

Scott Brown's two years of lying on the stump may not stay in the news as long as the faux heritage gate 'issue,' but in the end it could be more damaging. It changes the perception of Scott Brown. No longer is he the guy people want to have a beer with, now he's the guy people are laughing at.

Best Video Yet on Scott Brown's Kings and Queens

"Kings and Queens" was a longstanding part of his stump speech, and only blew up now because voters and the MSM had such limited access to him.

The guy thought the most important thing he could do was try to impress voters by making him sound important, in ways an 8 year old may think sounds important, instead of trying to talk about all the things he was doing to grow jobs and make Massachusetts a better place.

Perhaps that's understandable, given the fact that he wasn't doing anything to grow jobs or make Massachusetts better.

A Call to Convention

Elizabeth Warren didn't need to spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy her way onto the ballot. Doing so, in fact, would have been much easier than organizing the tens of thousands of supporters and volunteers who have been electrified by the Warren campaign.

We haven't seen this kind of engagement by the activist base of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since 2006, when Deval Patrick did something no one has since the Dukakis era: created a massive volunteer army.

In fact, with all due respect to the Governor, what Warren's been able to accomplish in such a short amount of time is even more impressive -- and I don't say that lightly. No one's attracted so many people, so quickly, as Warren has in Massachusetts. It's unprecedented and it's our best weapon against Scott Brown.

So, the question is, where does Marisa DeFranco fit in with all of this?

I'd like to say this primary is useful, like in 2006. Back then, the Governor benefited from being able to build up steam in the primary, igniting something that fascinated the media and enraptured hundreds of thousands of voters who were "checked out" for decades of voting before.

All of that happened, in part, because of the primary. Yet, Marisa DeFranco is no Tom Reilly or Chris Gabrieli. She isn't even a Christy Mihos. She's a comical sideshow that's raging behind the scenes, for anyone aware of the show. She's spouting Scott Brown lines, one after another, hoping one will stick and bring her act to Broadway. That dog ain't hunting.

The ultimate embarrassment is her continual campaign spiel about how she's the real grassroots candidate, but admits she only has 40 volunteers and has only raised only $40,000, the vast majority of which would have been needed to buy her way onto the ballot via paid signature collecting.

Years ago, I decided a barometer I'd use for any campaign in the state would be paid signature collecting. It's simply a disrespectful act toward democracy to go out and buy some private company to pay people a dollar a signature (or more) to put someone or something on the ballot. It's led to extreme abuse and has been the constant tool by bigoted or corporate groups to get things on the ballot.

DeFranco may be shocked to learn this, but she isn't entitled to be on the ballot. Buying signatures alone isn't enough. Thankfully, we -- the activist base of this party -- have an opportunity to do what party leaders can't and tell DeFranco she's toast, by denying her access at the convention.

If any of your delegate-friends waver, feeling guilty about dropping someone from the ballot for the first time in a long time, remember to tell them just what kind of a campaign DeFracno's run. Remember to tell them just what's at stake in November. Only one candidate at the convention can take on Wall Street and actually act as a force of nature to give everyday American families a fair shot. Any other vote is a vote for Scott Brown.

Marisa DeFranco at 3:30pm on LeftAhead

Mike and I are interviewing US Senate Candidate Marisa DeFranco at 3:30 today on LeftAhead. You can listen live at blogtalkradio.com/lefties starting at 3:30pm, or anytime after 4:30 at LeftAhead.com. There's also a mp3 player for the show on the right-hand column of this blog, and people can catch it at iTunes or some other podcast aggregators.

Elizabeth Warren Podcast

Lynne, Mike and I had a fantastic podcast today -- with special guest and Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren!

The topics are some of what you'd expect and some of what you may not, giving her a chance to show that she's not just a one-trick pony. Indeed, her experience and expertise is wide and deep, covering the issues that effect the Middle Class's purse strings the most. She also has a keen understand of the systemic problems facing Wall Street -- and how so many of the issues are truly linked to the failures of the system to place a check on the powerful lobbying interests out there.


Here's the episode, below:

Listen to internet radio with massmarrier on Blog Talk Radio

Elizabeth Warren Wants You

To tell her to run for US Senate.

MA-Sen: Marisa DeFranco on Today's LeftAhead

Democratic candidate for US Senate, Marisa DeFranco, joined us on today's LeftAhead podcast, talking about jobs, immigration, her background and why she has the chops to beat Scott Brown.

She's an immigration attorney and has been so for well more than a decade. She's also been very involved in women's rights issues, like equal pay for equal work. She unabashedly wears a progressive hat and seeks to build a grassroots campaign.

Listen to the show or download it at LeftAhead, the BlogTalkRadio player on the right, iTunes or any number of other podcast aggregators, like PocketCast for Android.

'I was for it before I was against it'

In record time, no less.

WASHINGTON — Senator Scott Brown will not disclose whether he supports a GOP budget plan that includes sweeping changes to Medicare, despite saying to a business group last week that he will vote for the measure when it comes up in the US Senate.

Perhaps Senator Brown's never heard the expression, "you can't put the genie back into the bottle." I don't care what his poll numbers are today, the only chance in hell Brown has in winning reelection is for the electorate to remain completely ignorant as to the job that he's doing.

Some US Senate Predictions

Just for kicks and giggles, here's some predictions I'm willing to make for the MA-US Senate race.

• Listening to the "Newton issue" is absolutely hilarious. Setti Warren wins Newton 2-1, not that it really matters.
• Scott Brown's popularity is just about cut in half by September before the next election. 
• Someone wins a majority of the Democratic primary vote.
• The Tea Party fails in its promises to challenge Brown in the GOP Primary.
• Bob Massie's in-state name recognition will be well above 50% by midway through the summer before the election, no matter how hard Emily Rooney tried to ignore him in the above-link. 
• A gazillionaire will jump in the race, but do so late, and sloppy, and lose. 
• Scott Brown will not be our next US Senator.
• Republicans will inevitable somehow declare fraud or cheating, no matter what the margin of defeat ends up being. 

In other news, Mike and I talked this race and the Boston City Council election on today's Left Ahead, with a brief editorial comment that I made on collective bargaining at the end of the show.

MA-Sen Campaign News: Alan Khazei and Bob Massie

• To the surprise of no one, Alan Khazei jumped in the race. For those of you who remember, last time around, when I knew Martha Coakley was going to walk away with the primary, I endorsed his candidacy. 
• In a race of unknowns, Khazei may be the least unknown, but he's starting out $190,000 in the red from his last effort to take the seat -- though much of that debt comes from his own personal loans, which he doesn't exactly have to pay back. That said, $200k doesn't grow on trees, so without more money coming in, there's only so much a candidate can self-fund, at least when we're not talking about Meg Whitman here.
  
  At the end of the day, this isn't a whole lot of money for a US Senate race, but Khazei's going to have to prove he can raise the big bucks if he wants to win a wide-open primary and take on Senator Brown. 
• Another favorite candidate of mine, Bob Massie, just picked up a major national political player on his team in Joe Trippi. Trippi's claim to fame was Howard Dean's '04 campaign, but he also worked for Governor Brown's campaign in California (against previously-mentioned Meg Whitman). Ultimately, this may best serve to kick-start his campaign a little bit and show that Massie's not just in some quixotic quest -- in a race as wide open as this one looks to be, Massie's got a real shot. 

Today's LeftAhead: US Senate Race w/Candidate Bob Massie

Today on LeftAhead, we had Bob Massie on as our guest, the first announced candidate running for the Democratic Primary to face Senator Scott Brown in 2012. Massie has degrees from Princeton, Harvard and Yale and has a wide variety of experience, is a published author, and helped developed tools which enable corporations to become greener and save money at the same time.

You can listen to the podcast using the player below, or head to LeftAhead.com. You can also get the show at Blogtalkradio.com/lefties, or download and subscribe at iTunes.



Mike and I touched on a a broad range of issues, from jobs and the economy, to the environment, to health care. Massie laid out his vision for where he thinks this country needs to go to ensure it remains competitive in today's world, and so we can strengthen the middle and working class.

We also talked about the campaign itself and Bob gave us his pitch for the race. Bob is clearly in the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party, and will be tapping the grassroots across the state to build momentum. I hope everyone will listen to the show and see what they think.

Bob Massie: Channeling '06 to Win in 2012?

By now, many people who pay attention to the State Democratic Party and Massachusetts politics in general have heard that we've had our first announced challenger to Scott Brown -- Somerville's Bob Massie. Though most people probably don't know Bob very well (disclosure: I know him a little bit), he's not exactly a new hand to Massachusetts politics and is certainly fondly remembered by those who have been around since his 1994 campaign, where he beat out an insider to be nominated Lt. Governor on the Democratic ticket.

He's one of those rare few involved in politics who govern themselves by their convictions, and aren't afraid to take on the big challenges in order to help everyday people. We need more people like him in office. In many ways, he's the type of politician who's been sorely missing in this state for a long time -- but in other ways, his campaign reminds me a bit of the early days of Deval Patrick's 2006 winning effort. That's why I actually think he has a shot.

Consider this: One candidate was a political outsider with absolutely no name-recognition, but had an inspiring story and was willing to run hard based on his convictions alone. The other candidate is known only in activist circles, but has an inspiring story and is willing to run hard based on his convictions.

One of the candidates got out there ahead of the entire field, so he could build the sort of grassroots army among party activists that would enable him to defeat opponents who would start out with more money and name recognition. The other is doing the same thing.

One candidate was a political outsider who brandished an anti-establishment message, the other is a Beacon Hill outsider who's on occasion sparred with some of the establishment, at least when they forgot who they were working for.

In a race where I don't think many core members of the democratic establishment will even run -- never mind be our best shot at winning -- we need people like Bob Massie to breath a fresh breath of air into our politics. Someone else will jump into the race, someone with more money and with bigger name, but like Tom Reilly, I'm not so sure that person is going to win -- and I'm pretty confident that person won't be our best bet at beating Scott Brown.

The biggest difference between what Deval Patrick did in '06 and what Bob Massie is trying to do today is that Deval Patrick never won anything before, never mind a statewide primary. None of this is to suggest that what happened in 2006 will happen again today, but I've got hope that a candidate like Bob Massie can speak to our better angels and get a lot of people who checked out to check back in come 2012.

Filibernie Remix

HT Aftertig

Brown's Bad for Boston

Freshman Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley - and former Kerry staffer - makes an excellent point for all the residents living in and near Boston -- a point that could be extended for anyone living in Springfield, Worcester, New Bedford, Lowell or pretty much any city across Massachusetts. From Ayanna's email:

Electing Scott Brown would be bad news for Boston. He will work against the very programs that serve as the lifelines for those struggling to survive these challenging times. He will work to slash federal funding to UMass Boston and other public colleges and universities around the state. He will oppose health care reform that would ensure better coverage for our seniors and families. He will fight against what you and I care about, those issues and ideals I actively championed during my campaign. He would make things tougher for my constituents and shatter the dream that was the great cause of Senator Kennedy's life.

The Problem with Scott Brown

I just did 2 hours of phone banking for Martha Coakley tonight. A lot of people may wonder why I'd be willing to invest that kind of time to her campaign when I've been fairly critical of her on this blog, but I think the answer is pretty clear. While I think she'll be an okay Senator (and potentially a very good one with a few years' seasoning), Brown would be an absolutely horrible one.

My biggest problem with him, though, is the fact that he's not even a moderate Republican -- this guy is no Governor Weld, or the type of socially liberal, fiscally moderate kind of Republican Massachusetts voters have proven willing to vote for in the past. Brown was anti-marriage equality. He's boasted that he wouldn't support the Senate health care bill, even though it's very much like the Massachusetts bill he voted for not so long ago.

He's very much more like national Republicans than he is the standard variety Massachusetts Republicans -- and he's even running to the right of where he's been in the past. He's doing that for two reasons: it's getting him national support, with the Tea Bagger brigade readily on board. Furthermore, there really is some angst around the country directed at Democrats -- not because they've been too liberal, but because they haven't gotten stuff done (no thanks to Republican obstructionists, but it's difficult for the average voter to understand all that Washington nuance -- so it's not very helpful to even try to make that point).

Activists need to focus on reminding voters why we need Martha Coakley over Scott Brown. The critical policies that effect children, seniors and working families are all at stake. Even if the Democratic brand has been tarnished, those are all still programs that the rank and file citizen still widely supports -- and those are the reasons why they'll support Democrats, if they're reminded to do so. Brown would obstruct and attack all of those priorities, which would do very tangible damage to this country. Coakley will expand and save them. That's what's at stake here -- and that's why people need to vote for Martha Coakley.

Passing it forward

Because not only I should be inundated with a gazillion Senate campaign emails in the past 48 hours, I figured I'd share snippets from today's inbox.

Here's one from Coakley's campaign,

Brown says: “Never Voted for a Tax Increase”, but supported hundreds of millions of dollars in fee hikes, a gas tax increase, and over $7 billion in increased spending

Boston, MA - In tonight’s Senate debate, Republican Scott Brown continued to misrepresent his position on taxes. At the debate, Brown said:

“I’ve never voted for a tax increase while in elective office. In fact, I’m proud of fighting the line on taxes.”

But facts are stubborn things.

While a State Representative, Brown voted for a 2004 budget that contained hundreds of millions of dollars in fee hikes. On May 8, 2003, Brown voted for passage of the FY 2004 state budget. Media estimates placed the total number of fee hikes placed on Massachusetts families and businesses that were contained in that budget ranging from $390 million to $700 million a year. The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation linked the fees to tax increases at the time, saying “It's been disingenuous to say there's no new taxes, in the sense that there's very little connection to the fee increases and the cost of services that the fees are supposed to represent.”

Here's another from her campaign,

Scott Brown Denies That He Would Deny Rape Victims Emergency Contraception

Brown Wanted to Provide Religious Exemption to Bill Allowing Doctors to Distribute Emergency Contraceptives to Rape Victims. During debate on a 2005 bill to allow doctors to dispense emergency contraceptives to rape victims, Brown sponsored an amendment to the bill allowing hospital personnel to be exempted on religious grounds from a requirement to inform victims of the availability of the morning-after pill, and dispense it to those who request it. Brown’s amendment was rejected and he voted in favor of the bill to require emergency rooms provide emergency contraceptives to rape victims. [Senate, No. 2073, 6/16/05; Telegram & Gazette, 6/17/05]

Brown Recently Reiterated His Belief That Hospitals Have The Right To Refuse Emergency Contraception To Rape Victims Based On Hospital Personnel’s Religious Beliefs. During the WTKK debate Margery Eagan pressed Brown on his sponsorship of an amendment to an emergency contraception bill that would allow emergency room personnel to turn away rape victims based on their religious beliefs. Eagan asked, “Should if a woman come to the hospital in that situation should she get the emergency contraceptive or if there are people that for religious reasons oppose, she should have to go, and get back in her car and go to another hospital?” Brown replied, “That’s really up to the hospitals.” [WTKK Debate 1/5/09]

As a final blog-forward, Coakley finally goes after Scott Brown's record in her latest ad. It was a somewhat generic ad, but ithighlighted the biggest issue that has emerged in the final days, Brown's support for policy that would allow hospitals to deny emergency contraceptive treatment to raped women.

That's just a very small sampling, but things I think are imperative people know before they go into the voting booth. Not only would Brown allow hospitals to deny coverage to rape victims, but he's also Scott Brown lying when he says he's never voted for a tax increase -- and he's lying when he says he wouldn't raise your taxes. He'll just raise all your fees and pretend as if those aren't taxes.

I find it hard not to express my frustration with the way Coakley and her people have campaigned since almost the beginning, but they're finally starting to get the picture. It can be tough to be favored in a race by overwhelming odds, but the recipe for success there is not to rest on your laurels or run a wishy-washy campaign, where you're afraid to go out there and engage on the issues. The way to go about a campaign like that is to, as they'd say in sports, "run up the score." Don't just try to win, try to win by 30. Brown's record was always an eyesore; it's Martha Coakley's job to make sure the populace knows that.

It's Time to Fix Martha's Ugly Mess

Martha Coakley should be ashamed that it ever got this close. Candidates who are out ahead by name recognition only -- and sit on that lead, taking few, if any, risks -- have the nasty tendency to risk embarrassment (and in this case, disaster). At this point, Massachusetts Democrats have to hope this is Nikki Tsongas, Redux, because at least she squeaked by with that win, even if it wasn't really warranted based on campaign skills and strategy. If you don't go after a candidate in a race, explaining not only why you'd be the best choice at precisely the same time as you explain why your opponent isn't the right person, then you're going to have a rough time winning.

I'll be out on election day. I've been bitching and moaning at my friends to get them to vote. People did not take this race seriously -- and it's come back to bite us. Martha Coakley's done little to get anyone excited, but she'll be far and away better than Scott Brown. Simply put, Scott Brown would damage our country. BMG lays that case out quite well here, so I'll simply leave it at this: We cannot go from one of the most effective and best Senators in the history of this country, and certainly this state, to Scott Brown. Martha Coakley was never the ideal candidate in a general election, but at least she won't support policies that will do damage to the American people.

Any Last Minute Thoughts on the Race?

Other than the fact I don't know what, exactly, to expect, I don't have many. This election is certainly unique for Massachusetts, with no precedent to gauge turnout and little to test voter interest. Whoever's camp gets their people to turnout, if enough people could be IDd in such a short election, may just pull off the upset. In any event, I'm glad voters got to have a chance to have their say in this election. No matter who wins, the people of this state benefited from having the choice.