Gabriel Gomez – image from the Boston Globe From Middle Class Beginnings Gomez Forges Unconventional Path
The dust has settled on the Mass. Senate Special Election primaries, with less fanfare than that received by the ice-cream man making his rounds in the streets of Massachusetts. The results, the dinosaur from Congress, Markey, Democrat, versus, Gomez, the young, Hispanic, Businessman, Republican. Granted so much is wrong with this picture it is almost laughable – given the fact that there appears to be a role reversal going on in Massachusetts Politics, and to boot, over half the states’ electorate could care less (and that may be a higher figure).
First, it spears as if the news outlets, try and they might, can’t generate enough interest in this particular contest – there are few Google News alerts compared to other similar contests in special elections nationwide. Secondly, the articles are predictable: The national media are suggesting that Republicans Hope Gabriel Gomez is the next Scott Brown” (ABC News), and “A Gomez Upset of Markey Don’t Count on It” (Washington Post).
Secondly, trying to prop up Ed Markey is proving difficult: Example: Veteran Democrat, Republican newcomer win Massachusetts Senate primaries” (Chicago Tribune), and Where Ed Markey Should Watch His Back (Washington Post)
On Gomez, he is hardly Scott Brown, or the Hispanic Equivalent to Scott Brown, he is Gabriel Gomez – Brown had a record to run on, and by all that is rational should have been reelected to the Senate, except he had the bad fortune to run in a general election where any Republican in Massachusetts would have had difficulty getting on the ballot – Brown’s record spoke for itself, and those low-information voters, the dead, the aged, turned out in droves. Brown was an underdog from the start – The only thing remotely connecting Brown and Gomez, is the fact that they shared the same party designation. Gomez is not an underdog, although he will be painted in that manner and has been against the “veteran” Congressman, Markey. Gomez is his own man – and unabashedly proud of who he is, comfortable in his own skin. Too bad for Markey there.
The Washington Post suggests that the electorate in Massachusetts is Democrat – and the likelihood of a Republican wining is very slim indeed – except – it does happen. The fact that Obama bested Romney in his own state is not something that should be help up as anti-Republican – it was, more to the point, anti-Romney. Outside of the bubble that is Boston, Romney was never overly popular in his home state. The fact that Obama won Massachusetts handily against McCain in 2008 was also not a shocker – it as youth versus the old guy.
The Chicago Tribune Headline is the one that Markey will have to count on, to get anywhere, without seriously stuffing the ballots, putting poling locations in every senior center, nursing home and bodega, and enlisting the help of the Mayor of Bridgeport. The fact that Markey has experience in Congress, decades and decades of experience, a solid Democrat vote since Carter was elected.
Meet Ed Markey - Image Salon.com
Markey is Markey – he’s part of the machine, heck he probably can claim he built the machine that is Congress. That’s the one favorable that Markey has going into the race in a state that is made up of an electorate who a) does not care and b) is over 50% unenrolled – or non-partisan if one will.
Gomez on the other hand looks like a shiny new dime.
The Republican’s, from outside of Massachusetts, don’t hope or think that Gomez is another Scott Brown, they know he is Gabriel Gomez, with every single attribute the Democrats would have killed for in a candidate.
Gomez is aggressive in campaigning, and does not need to have the support of NARAL and the SEIU, Unions, et.al behind him – He just smiles and opens with a phrase in Spanish, then rips into his issues like a well-oiled machine. He makes no wild claims, is humble at the same time, and, although made mistakes such as writing a letter to Governor Deval Patrick, which was chock full of support for Obama, he did not apologize for being – Gabriel Gomez, not to the Republican’s – all 11.5% of them. He just noted he also liked McCain in 08 – enough said. He’s proven that he can win the Republican nomination in a three way fight, even with that letter to Deval Patrick. One might say that letter is money in the bank.
What Markey needs to win this race – Markey needs to be Gomez, that won’t happen.
What Gomez needs: troops to watch the opposition and keep them from stuffing ballots in nursing homes – He needs plenty of lawyers at the polling stations - That’s it.
The only other thing Gomez should do is campaign in Western Massachusetts – especially in the urban areas: Holyoke, Springfield, Chicopee, Pittsfield – Heck he may even get those hippies in the hill towns who would have voted for Markey – one swing or two in the next few weeks should do it.
Scott Brown won, or gave real hard chase in the aforementioned areas in 2010, because he was not Martha Coakley, and because they went door to door in the flats, in Holyoke – they took a page from the playbook of the Democrats, heck they were Democrats! Isn’t Gomez a former Democrat? That’s what all those, who are digging for dirt on Google: Gomez right wing, Is Gomez Right wing, Gomez Tea Party, etc. are finding out.
Some in the media are billing this as a race……while others are pointing to a reliable win by Markey- one would have thought so on the later, had one not realized that the hand has been expertly played. It may well end up being no race at all.
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