Attorney General Martha Coakley is locked in a dead heat for governor with Republican Charlie Baker because she’s struggling to win over the two demographic groups she needs most. Partisan Democrats and women voters formed the backbone of the recent Democratic victories in Massachusetts. But three weeks before Election Day, Coakley is still struggling to […]
Paul McMorrow
Paul McMorrow comes to CommonWealth from Banker & Tradesman, where he covered commercial real estate and development. He previously worked as a contributing editor to Boston magazine, where he covered local politics in print and online. He got his start at the Weekly Dig, where he worked as a staff writer, and later news and features editor. Paul writes a frequent column about real estate for the Boston Globe’s Op-Ed page, and is a regular contributor to BeerAdvocate magazine. His work has been recognized by the City and Regional Magazine Association, the New England Press Association, and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. He is a Boston University graduate and a lifelong New Englander.
Posted inPolitics
PAC child abuse ad galvanizes Coakley
Martha Coakley stood in her Somerville campaign headquarters Thursday, ringed by a dozen stone-faced supporters, throwing the heaviest punches yet in the current race for governor. “If he stands on the sidelines now,” Coakley said of her Republican opponent, Charlie Baker, “I suggest he’s not a suitable governor for Massachusetts.” There was little joy in […]
Posted inPolitics
Cities go for Coakley
Martha Coakley won Tuesday’s Democratic gubernatorial primary because she posted huge numbers in urban areas and lower-income communities. Coakley’s overall margin of victory has worried some observers, because the six-point spread between her and Steve Grossman was far narrower than it was expected to be. But a deeper dive into Tuesday’s returns show that Coakley […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Coakley’s bad optics
Politics is a math equation. Rival candidates tally their votes, and the one with the most votes emerges. The math is cold. It’s dispassionate. But beneath the math, there’s perception. There’s a narrative. And right now, the narrative surrounding Martha Coakley’s campaign for governor has the potential to do serious damage to her campaign’s math […]
Posted inPolitics
Final sprint
Leaving it all on the field “Hello, Marty? It’s Steve Grossman. Listen, Marty, I need you to look at something…” Steve Grossman is four days away from what could be the last election of his career. Polls show Grossman, the current state treasurer, trailing by huge margins in his race for governor. He needs every […]
Posted inPolitics
Republican Super PAC Follows Obama Strategy on TV Buys
Political campaigns usually save their heaviest television spending for the tail end of a campaign. They save their powder because political advertising is expensive, and because academic researchers haven’t found any benefit to spending heavily on television early in campaigns. Two years ago, however, Barack Obama’s campaign flipped established political media strategies upside down. And […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker’s demographic dilemma
Charlie Baker’s first run at the governor’s office was marked by an enormous 24-point loss among women. Since Baker’s 2010 loss, strong showings with women provided Massachusetts Democrats with decisive margins in a pair of US Senate races. Baker has made improving his standing with women voters one of the main thrusts of his current […]
Posted inPolitics
Dems gearing up for ground game
A hard sprint still stands between the three Democrats who would be governor, and September’s gubernatorial primary. But all summer, as Martha Coakley, Steve Grossman, and Don Berwick have crisscrossed Massachusetts, the state’s Democratic Party has been rolling machinery into place to deploy in November’s general election. Democratic officials attribute the party’s upswing over the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
MA political fundraising plummets
The outside super PAC money now pouring into the Massachusetts governor’s race is only half of a rapidly changing equation behind how state elections are financed. The recent rise in outside money has been so pronounced that it has overshadowed a far more wide-reaching trend – a steep drop in fundraising by traditional political committees. […]