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Election Day Winners and Losers
Niki Tsongas was a big winner. As a newly elected member of Congress (elected in 2007 special election) she fit the profile of those Democratic Congressmen who lost yesterday across the rest of the country.
Deval Patrick was a big winner. Being an incumbent running for reelection in tough economic times is a big challenge, and these times are the toughest we’ve faced since the Great Depression. For Patrick to pull out such a clear victory gives him substantial momentum going into his second term.
In his victory speech, Barney Frank said “tonight Massachusetts has reaffirmed the complete political irrelevance of the Boston Herald.” The same could be said for the Lowell Sun. The local newspaper editorialized in favor of Jon Golnik, Charlie Baker and the Question 3 sales tax repeal and the voters went the other way on all three. Nowhere was the newspaper’s blurring of the line between its editorial positions and its news coverage (or more particularly, the selection and placement of its front-page news stories) than in its unrelenting negativity towards Niki Tsongas. In this campaign, the local newspaper became the words-on-paper equivalent of right wing talk radio, playing the same radical tune to an already committed but small audience and losing a great chunk of reasonable people with its extremism.
Scott Brown was a loser yesterday. The question is no longer “who will be the next Scott Brown”, but “who will run against Scott Brown” who will appear on the ballot in the next state election in 2012. Brown crisscrossed the state in support of Republican candidates but showed no coattails. And his embrace of Jeff Perry after the disclosures of Perry’s malfeasance when a police officer under his command sexually assaulted a 14-year old girl forever give past Brown voters reason to question his judgment.
Office-holders who are decent, reasonable people – regardless of party – got a boost yesterday. Anyone who has come to know both Deval Patrick and Niki Tsongas all agree that they are both kind, caring, thoughtful people, whose interest in others is genuine and not just some election season put-on. Both won big and their positive personalities were a big part of it.
There are many more winners and losers but I’ll have to continue the list in another post . . .
“As a newly elected member of Congress (elected in 2007 special election) she fit the profile of those Democratic Congressmen who lost yesterday across the rest of the country.”
I disagree with this. Most of the Democrats from around the country who lost were the moderate dems.
Tsongas falls in with the more liberal left.
Loser: Lowell Sun, as it endorsed more losers than winners. Among them:
Charlie Baker
Karyn Polito
Mary Connaughton
William Gunn
Jon Golnik
BIll Hudak
Sandi Martinez
Mario Marchese
Nicholas Ianuzzi
Question 2
The Sun is fond of singling out Massachusetts Dems and calling them “out of touch” with the voters here, but this year once again gives the lie to that claim. Welcome to another election cycle of irrelevance, Lowell Sun.
On Facebook, I read comments about relocating from my conservative friends. While some may, I wonder is these Democratic wins may bring more new people to state, from those escaping Republican held areas. Even Conservative Democrats held their seats.
My husband commented while listening to Baker on the radio, it seemed ‘too good’. It was very clear he was speaking to our demographic. Baker commented that families making 60-70k a year shouldn’t feel like they’re struggling. That’s us. Yet…. We couldn’t buy into it either.
We did like Patrick’s commercial where he was reference Baker’s record as a CEO, in which Patrick was doing the narration in front of an audience. It was factual, not negative, and Patrick didn’t hide behind someone voice or utilizing bad photos of Baker.
We voted for neither, though.
Is the the setting sun election for the local Lowell paper? The newspaper industry is becoming more and more irrelevant in the current society. When they opt to hire over-the-hill Herald colomnists such as Peter Lucas and give them an inordinate amount of print space they really are burying their collective editorial headl in the banks of the Merrimack River. I noticed how much time was given to the NH results in local media outlets. It was “they” were hoping for some doom and gloom here for Democratic candidates in our state and when that didn’t happen, they did the dreaded “cross the state line” action, to do their business.Congrats to all the winners in the great stae of Massachusetts.
Sorry for any typos. My mouse batteries are running low.
Can someone please tell me how many employees Jon Golnik employed ?
As you indicate, the Lowell Sun failed to consider the history or role of our very local member of Congress (LRTA funds, Lowell Community Health Center dollars, multiple assistance awards for the Hamilton Gateway Project, assistance with National Park funding, delivering on the I-93 interchange and jobs, federal funds for the Nano-Tech Center and research dollars for UML, and strong support for day to day needs for Veterans. This being only a partial list. In contrast, we had the endorsement of a Carlisle resident with limited credentials who failed to vote in 8 of 9 elections. Where is the ditorial consistency? When the Sun talks of voter participation, the importance of economic development, and the delivery system; where’s the beef when endorsing Golnik, Gunn and Hudak? Finally, the eleventh hour attempt to leave the impression that because Niki Tsongas did not pay property taxes in the district as a renter, she didn’t live in the district – this was the height of naivete but more likely manipulative spite.
Clement Costello, the colorful former publisher, was a rogue, but he strongly supported honest public officials and those who made a difference for the city. Let us lament the passing of community newspapers full of advertising and responsible, thoughtful journalism.