Note: In this article, the editor of the MetroWest Daily News acknowledges that the Green-Rainbow Party is playing a unique role in Massachusetts politics this year.
Stein - Metro West Daily News 10-27-06
Lodge: Fringe party earns some respect
By Richard K. Lodge/ News Editor
Friday, October 27, 2006
Here's something to chew on: Candidates from the Green-Rainbow Party outnumber Republicans in contests for state office this year.
Grace Ross (running for governor); Jill Stein (secretary of state); and James O'Keefe (state treasurer) round out the Green-Rainbow ticket. On the GOP side, only Kerry Healey (in the governor's race) and Larry Frisoli (in the race for attorney general) are on the ballot, with no Republicans in races for secretary of state or treasurer.
That's not to imply the Green-Rainbow candidates will replace the Republican Party in Massachusetts. But the respect Ross has garnered for her smarts and gumption in the three televised debates, and the patience and intelligence Stein brings to her race, give credibility to this fringe party in a way that rarely happens.
The continuing decline of local organizations to support Republicans running for state rep and state Senate has left the party powerless -- at least as a voting bloc -- in the Legislature. With few exceptions, the lack of an organization at the legislative level yields few Republicans with experience and name recognition who could move up the political ladder into statewide office.
Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey lost two runs for state rep before Mitt Romney picked her as his running mate in 2002. Without Romney's help four years ago, Healey wouldn't be in a position to make her run for the top office.
This year the Green-Rainbow Party is the one to keep at least half an eye on. Ross, a long-time activist with Marlborough roots, has gained a measure of respect for her debate performances. Like Christy Mihos, the independent candidate for governor, Ross doesn't have anything to lose and has everything to gain when it comes to getting her positions across in the debates.
But hearing Ross in a debate is no different from discussing issues with her in a Daily News editorial board meeting this week. She is smart, knows her stands and issues inside and out and speaks her mind. A more prominent candidate tends to talk in terms of how something will sound on the evening news or how it will appear in print; Ross gives a rapid-fire response to questions and comes to the table with the details in her head.
And, unlike both Democrat Deval Patrick and Republican Kerry Healey, Ross doesn't bring along a campaign aide who can be called upon to send more information to an inquisitive editor. Ross arrives alone and fills her own shoes.
Jill Stein occupies another Green-Rainbow spot on the ballot, facing off against the powerful incumbent Secretary of State Bill Galvin. Stein, a Lexington doctor who ran for governor four years ago and state rep in 2004, both times on the Green Party ticket, has been beating the bushes in her campaign. But, like most third party candidates, Stein barely hits the radar in the major Boston media and doesn't have the money to buy visibility via TV ads in the Greater Boston market.
Stein talked about her campaign for secretary of state this week, focusing on what she believes is widespread secrecy in how bills are drafted and the huge influence of lobbyists and their money.
As an aside, Stein was asked her thoughts about the disappearance of Republican candidates in most races two years ago and again this year.
"The Republicans are a place holder party," she said. "They're not a real party" in Massachusetts these days.
"In many ways the Republican Party has been absorbed into the Democratic Party," Stein said. In that way, the major party (Democrats) and weakened Republicans can still lock out third party candidates "and call them spoilers."
"Third parties get vilified for being spoilers. They get locked out of the media because they're not 'legitimate,'" Stein said.
Massachusetts has a long-standing reputation elsewhere in the country, of course. Anyone old enough to remember George McGovern's quest for the White House (and how he won only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia) might recall the "Don't blame me, I'm from Massachusetts" bumper stickers, after Richard Nixon's fall from power.
And now even Gov. Mitt Romney -- you remember him, don't you? -- has used his adopted state as something of a dart board when he's been campaigning before "red state" crowds who might look with disdain on the Bay State.
The ballot presence of the Green-Rainbow Party this year could serve to fill a niche in Massachusetts politics in coming years, not to replace the more conservative Republicans, but to stand as an alternative to the mainstream Democrats who hew more toward moderate Republican interests than populist causes.
There is another big difference that sets the Green-Rainbow candidates apart from both Democrats and Republicans: You won't find lobbyists lined up outside any Green-Rainbow candidate's door, waiting to fatten her campaign chest. Love the Green-Rainbows or hate 'em, that's one area that should earn them respect.
Richard Lodge is editor of the Daily News and writes a column published most Fridays. His e-mail is rlodge@cnc.com.
