Why does Massachusetts have a republican governor?

[ringmastery]

It's one of the most liberal states in the country. How can any republican win there statewide?

[goodhue]

1. Why does Vermont have a republican governor?

Why does Minnesota have a republican governor?

[ringmastery]

3. Those states aren't as liberal as Mass.

[THUNDER HANDS]

2. why do New York and California have republican governors?

[NewYorkerfromMass]

4. O'Brien lost it. That's why.

:mad:

[Armstead]

5. Because we had an unattractive Democratic candidate

Plus, Massachusetts seems to like dividing government among the two parties. And generally, Republicans here tend to be slightly more moderate that your Sunbelt-style right-winger. They're more in the mold of old-fashioned Republicans. (With the exception of current Gov. Mitt Romney, who is a classic Bushoie style Republican.)

Despite its image as a liberal hotbead, most sections of the state are moderate, and some areas are blue-collar conservative.

[sallyseven]

7. Shannon was a women

The democrats in Mass don't want a woman breaking up the old boy network.

[Mairead]

22. I don't think that's so. I looked at what she was offering, and it was

the same old same-old. She's a very conventional, risk-averse politician, and that showed in everything she said and did. She just didn't have the goods in the parcel, and I'm someone whose feminism normally prompts me to vote for any left-of-center woman as long as she has a pulse. I didn't get the sense that Shannon has a natural pulse -- she seemed more clockwork than anything else.

[cprise]

11. Romney is Mormon

This should temper any claims of moderation.

The Mormon church itself claims biblical inerrancy... it is a fundamentalist sect.

[FlashHarry]

19. You added an extra 'M' N/T

[eissa]

6. Because we're spineless

We simply have not fought like they do; we are too willing to compromise, or to see the other side, while the repukes -- who don't believe in tolerance of any kind -- feel no obligation whatsoever to compromise on anything because God is on their side and God is always right. Until the DNC and our "leaders" form some kind of strategy that allows us to fight back hard, we will continue to lose even the blue states.

[Raven]

8. The common wisdom is

that MA has a predominately democrat legislature and that the public likes some checks and balances in the government so they often vote for a repub for gov. Since this often leads to nothing but gridlock, I think the real reason we Ma people do this is because we like a good fight. :-)

[Armstead]

9. Yep -- Cranky-chusetts.

[displacedtexan]

10. Why does Maryland have a republican governor?

because Kathleen Kennedy Townsend ran the worst campaign in the history of campaigns (she 'misunderestimated' the evil republican tactics).
Ehrlich promised slot machines (that was about it as far as his campaign platform), and those people we shouldn't refer to as baa-baaing types voted for slot machines.
We still have dems in power everywhere else in the state, so no slot machines yet.

[MAlibdem]

12. O'Brien was a bad candidate

Portrayed as an insider (former State Treasurer).

Romney came in promising to clean up Beacon Hill, appealing to people who dislike Speaker Finneran (controls everything in MA, jerk to boot).

[Kat45]

20. I voted for Robert Reich in the primary; I would have loved to

have seen him as governor. Finneran is so conservative--a staunch Catholic--that he might as well be a republican.

[nancyharris]

13. A better question is

Why are all 13 Massachusetts members of Congress white male millionaire Democrats? Why have Massachusetts Democrats not elected a woman to Congress in decades? Why have Massachusetts Democrats never elected a person of color to Congress?

[Kat45]

18. Mass. did have a person of color in the US Senate--

Ed Brooke, in the sixties. IIRC, he was a republican.

[NewJerseyDem]

23. First of all, there are only 12 members from Massachussetts

I don't know if they are all millionaires now but Richard Neal was a high school teacher, John Olver was a chemistry professor, Jim McGovern was the son of owners of a packing store, Barney Frank grew up in Bayonne, Martin Meehan's father was a typesetter for a newspaper, John Tierney worked his way through college as a janitor, Ed Markey's father was a milkman, Michael Capuano's grandfather was an immigrant from Italy, Stephen Lynch grew up in the projects and he was originally an ironworker, and and I don't know about Delahunt. So, these congressmen hardly grew up wealthy and if they are wealthy now it is from hard work, not inheritance. Being a millioinaire isn't that impressive anyway.

The state is only 5.0% black and only 6.8% hispanic. Very few states with that small a number of minorities are electing minorities to congress. That may be unfortunate but you could also say the same thing abot how there aren't many white congressmen being elected from heavily black districts.

It is true that Massachussetts hasn't had a female member of congress for 30 years. But, women have only been winning office in large numbers for about a decade. They will elect a woman soon, but it is a reasonable point to raise. It has been about 25 years since a democratic congresswoman was elected in New Jersey and perhaps that is party of internal party politics but it will change in due time.

[Mairead]

24. "Why have Massachusetts Democrats never elected a person of color"

Hell, we'd almost have to send away for a candidate. Black folk aren't exactly thick on the ground in the Boston area especially. Somehow they might have got a feeling they aren't wanted, back in the '70s when so many paddies in Southie were shouting 'N*gg*r n*gg*r' at their kids.

[gottaB]

14. Tom Finneran

Checks and balances, you know. Finneran's crew actually runs the state. In the primary there were Democratic candidates who vowed to rein in Finneran. O'Brien was not one of them.

In the general I voted for Jill Stein, the Green. It didn't make a difference, as it turned out, but I thought Stein was the genuine liberal and talked sense, so I probably would have voted for her anyway.

Here's another take on Bloody Tuesday from the Boston Phoenix, which focuses on suburban independent voters and their concerns about run-away spending on Beacon Hill.

[bushwakker]

27. Dems won't take back the corner office until Finneran is gone

the shitty thing is that Finneran is a conservative yet the GOP still runs against him. Progressives are left with nothing/

15. Why does Kansas have a Democratic governor?

and a Democratic congressman

these things happen

http://www.ksgovernor.org/
http://www.house.gov/moore/

[Mass_Liberal]

16. because O'Brien was a horrible candidate

no credentials, and wasn't running on anything. Should have nominated Bob Reich. He actually would have won.

[creativelcro]

17. We needed one to counteract the totally corrupt

Dem legislature. it's healthy.

[elperromagico]

21. Why does Hawaii have a Republican governor?

Two things to remember:

1. Republican doesn't necessarily mean "conservative." Believe it or not, there are still some progressive Republicans in the United States.
2. Personality counts a great deal in statewide elections (as opposed to national elections, where people are more likely to vote straight-party).

[NewJerseyDem]

25. Any state can have a republican governor

Any state can have a democratic governor. There are republicans in VT, RI, CT, NY, MD, HI, CA and there are democrats in KS, OK, WY, NC, IN. State politics usually are very different from national politics. Governors don't deal with foreign policy and most importantly no state wants one party control forever. Clearly, states will alternate back and forth when they get upset with the incumbent party. Also, these are elections where one candidate can be a pretty bad candidate like in Rhode Island with Myrth York.

[bushwakker]

26. His name is Tom Finneran

He is the "Democratic" Speaker of the House which he runs with an iron fist. Finneran is the most despised figure in the state and the GOP runs against him every time...and wins. Finneran is a Catholic conservative who is actually to the right of the GOP governors we've had. So the Dems get a double whammy. Because he is nominally a "Democrat" the GOP gets to run against him. On the other hand I could take this if he were in the least bit progressvive - but he is not. It's really a fucked up situation here but it won't change until Finneran is gone.

[creativelcro]

28. I don't mind honest conservatives.

I cannot stand the Finneran corrupt types...