The race for governor of Massachusetts was characterized by nasty, not-so-subtly racist ads by Kerry Healey. I commented in this blog at the time that channeling Lee Atwater at his worst was not an especially effective approach in Massachusetts and that the lesson that Atwater learned, that “…you can acquire all you want and still feel empty. [that] It took a deadly illness to bring me eye to eye with that truth, but it is a truth that the country, caught up in its ruthless ambitions and moral decay, can learn on my dime.’ Healey did not learn this lesson, suffering a devastating defeat (21 percentage points!).
In this morning’s Boston Globe the youngsters who ran her campaign (Tim O’Brien and Stuart Stevens) defended their approach while seeking to shift blame to the Massachusetts Teacher’s Union, the candidate herself and her mentor (Governor in Absentia) Mitt Romney. From the Globe: “her advisers defend their approach, saying that Healey was in the race to win. Running an upbeat, positive campaign from that point would have amounted to surrender.
“It’s actually quite liberating, because once you understand that, your direction was very clear,” said Tim O’Brien, Healey’s campaign manager.â€
There are no regrets expressed by Healey’s campaign staff on the quality of their campaign – only a lackluster blame of the voters who when offered raw meat, refused to bite.