Republicans Fail to Shine in Special State Senate Election

For John, BLUF:  Maybe the Republicans should all move to New Hampshire.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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In other election news, a disappointment for Republicans in a State Senate Race in Brockton, per the News Aggregation Site, MASSterList.♠  The headline tease was "Why Baker's support was no big Diehl".♥

Why Guv's support was no big Diehl

If the special Senate race was supposed to be a proxy of something, it wasn't very heartening news for the state GOP. They got steamrolled in Brockton yesterday.  One could point to several reasons Rep. Geoff Diehl didn't win:  Mike Brady's Brockton roots are very strong -- he won 73 percent of the vote in Brockton -- and the Democrats wanted to send a message.  Diehl, however, won the suburban towns in the district.  But there's another factor in the outcome:  While Diehl's campaign benefited from Charlie Baker's support, the governor is not a rabble rouser about the opposing party.  Quite the opposite:  He seems to have affection for, if not outright love Democrats, which may make it just a little tougher for a hard-line Republican to gain traction.

Cooperation and nonpartisanship is working quite well for Baker as he builds coalitions to try to fix a lot of broken stuff and get some new programs started.  But his I'm OK, you're OK approach also elevates the Democratic leadership, who become problem-solvers and team players under the governor's tent rather than party ideologues.

Along comes a conservative Republican like Diehl, who needed to tap into a level of voter anger against the Democrats that just doesn't exist.  For Baker, gone is the language of there needing to be two teams on the field (he got one, it's just badly outnumbered).  There's no finger-pointing.  If there's one big happy family on Beacon Hill, why not bring another Democrat into the Senate?  Welcome, Senator Brady.  Evan Lips of NewBostonPost has a good take here: http://bit.ly/1So0I41

So, the Mass Republican Leadership is playing the cooperation game outside, but the strong discipline game inside.  Note the line "Cooperation and nonpartisanship is working quite well for Baker as he builds coalitions to try to fix a lot of broken stuff and get some new programs started."  It is.  And he is getting things fixed.  And, if he can make our Commonwealth a better place by playing nice with Democrats in Lowell and elsewhere that is probably good for everyone.

However, not everyone has Governor Baker's vision.  Some want to be a little more conservative, a little more Republican.  Where do they go?  For some it isn't about the corner office.  It is about speaking truth (as they see it) to power.

Hat tip to MASSter List.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  MASSter List:  A daily nonpartisan political newsletter that's affiliated with the State House News Service.
♥  Truth in reporting, I helped Rep Geoff Diehl by stuffing envelopes.