The Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 27, 2002
Poll: Mass. wants Mitt
HERALD POLL/by David R. Guarino
Republican Mitt Romney would steamroll into the governor's
race a certified front-runner, far more popular than the wounded acting governor and besting every Democrat in the
field, a new Herald poll shows.
In a staggering sign the GOP could abandon acting Gov. Jane
M. Swift for Romney, 48 percent of Republicans surveyed now disapprove of the job Swift is doing as governor.
Meanwhile, 69 percent of Republican voters view Romney
favorably while only 36 percent give Swift favorable marks.
And while Swift's plummeting fortune now has her losing to
all but the weakest Democrats, the poll shows Romney - hailed as the savior of the scandal-ridden Salt Lake City Olympics
- easily beating all five Democratic contenders, trouncing three of them by double-digit
margins.
"Mitt Romney would be in an extraordinarily strong position
to come into the state and trump Swift for the nomination of the Republican Party," said Herald pollster R. Kelly Myers.
"Jane Swift is now in a very vulnerable political position."
The poll, of 406 registered Massachusetts voters, was taken
Saturday through yesterday. It has a 4.9 percent margin of error.
For Romney, now strongly considering a run against Swift as
he mops up after the Utah games, the poll shows a clear path to victory that his advisers have said could push him into
the race. Already some key Republicans are defecting from Swift as they try to woo
Romney.
Among all voters, an enviable 57 percent favorable rating
for Romney towers over Swift's meager 27 percent, the poll shows.
Just 8 percent of voters view Romney unfavorably, while
Swift's negative rating soared to 53 percent in the latest poll - the highest since the scandals that plagued her early days as
lieutenant governor.
His strong favorable ratings show voters still like the
affable Belmont millionaire who lost to U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in 1994, and prefer him to even popular Democrats like
former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, state Treasurer Shannon P. O'Brien and Senate
President Thomas F. Birmingham.
"He is getting just a huge boost coming out of Salt Lake
that he could translate into a fairly strong position if he wanted to enter the race for governor of Massachusetts," Myers
said.
White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card also bested Swift,
earning 34 percent favorable ratings in the poll and beating three of the five Democrats in the race.
In matchups against Democrats, Republicans now appear poised
to either win with Romney or lose with Swift.
O'Brien and Reich lead the pack, clearly leaving Birmingham
behind when matched against either Republican.
The state treasurer beats Swift by 19 points, 49 percent to
30 percent, while Reich falls slightly behind at 48 percent to 30 percent. Birmingham has fallen into his own second tier
among the Democrats, beating Swift by only 9 points even after a flood of costly television
ads in recent weeks.
Former Democratic National Committee chairman Steve
Grossman, who also pumped thousands into television ads, dropped into a statistical dead heat with Swift alongside
former state Sen. Warren E. Tolman.
But the Democrats' hope of reclaiming the Corner Office
reverses against Romney, the poll shows.
Romney beats O'Brien by 6 points, 38 percent to 32 percent
and Reich by 9 points, 40 percent to 31 percent. Romney trounces the rest of the Democrats - Birmingham by 18
points, Grossman and Tolman by 25 points.
The numbers show Card, the Holbrook native, made the right
decision to so far bow out of the race for governor, Myers said.
"He is somewhat more popular (than Swift) but he loses to
Reich, loses to O'Brien and ties with Birmingham," Myers said. "A Republican strategist looking at these numbers would not
recommend bringing Andy Card to replace Swift on the ticket."
Still, the polling data show Romney's popularity might be
fleeting. The popularity drawn by commanding the closely watched Olympics, where he strolled with President Bush through
the opening ceremonies, won't last, Myers said.
"If he did want to get into the race, he'd be better off
doing it sooner than later to capitalize on these numbers while people are still thinking about the Olympics," Myers said. "I
don't know how quickly his favorable numbers will decline over time, but certainly they won't get
any higher than today if he doesn't do something."
For Swift, the latest poll shows she's hurting badly even
with Romney out of the race.
Swift's popularity and job approval ratings, which soared
after Sept. 11, have now steadily dropped to just above her December 2000 political
lowpoint.
"She is only slightly better than she was at her worst,
following the scandals that date back two years ago," Myers said. "The continued downturn of the economy and the
difficulties getting a budget passed have created some continued political problems for her."
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The Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 27, 2002
A handful of high-profile GOP activists, convinced acting
Gov. Jane M. Swift cannot win this fall, are meeting tomorrow to draft businessman Mitt Romney into the governor's race.
The defections to Romney include Denise Jillson, former
campaign manager for state Treasurer Joseph D. Malone, and Martin
Begien, a major GOP fund-raiser, according to Romney supporters.
"We don't think (Swift) can make it," said Jillson, who has
supported Swift in the past. "When we look at (Romney) we see real star power and a great chance at the GOP holding
onto the Corner Office."
The meeting is the latest sign that support for Swift in the
GOP could crumble if Romney decides to enter the race.
Jillson and another GOP activist, Jon Spampinato, said they
hope to plot a "strategy" to get Romney, the head of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, back to Massachusetts before the
April 6 GOP convention.
Massachusetts Republican chairman Kerry Murphy Healey also
acknowledged yesterday she met with Romney last week during a trip to the Olympics. But she said she went as a
guest of Neil Chayet, a Republican lawyer considering a race against U.S.
Sen. John F. Kerry.
Healey said Romney told her that a challenge to Swift was
"one of his options" but she said she offered no encouragement.
Romney this week said he is open to a challenge to Swift,
but plans to go on vacation to Hawaii today to make his decision.
At a news conference yesterday, Romney said he won't make a
formal declaration until mid-March. But Romney supporters said they believe he is prepared to send a clear signal
about his intentions within a week.
There are new questions, meanwhile, about Romney's Massachusetts residency.
Records at the Registry of Motor Vehicles show that Romney's
Massachusetts license expired nearly two years ago, shortly after he moved to Salt Lake City to run the Olympic
effort. Romney also has two outstanding parking tickets in Belmont that
make his license in "non-renewal" status.
Romney also told a Utah newspaper that he became a taxpaying
Utah resident in 1999 because he spent more than six months living there.
It's unclear whether Romney paid Massachusetts taxes as
well. Records show he filed a tax return for 1999 and 2000, but officials are not allowed to release information on whether he
filed as a non-resident or part-year resident.
Under state law, a candidate for governor must have
established a "domicile" in Massachusetts for seven years prior to running.
Romney continues to own a home in Belmont and voted in
Massachusetts in the 2000 election, which could help him beat back any residency challenge.
Although Romney has lived in Utah for three years, he only
needs to establish an "intent" to return to the state.
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The Boston Globe
Wednesday, February 27, 2002
State GOP eyes drafting Romney
By Frank Phillips and Stephanie Ebbert
Globe Staff
Grass-roots Republican activists, convention delegates, and
campaign managers will begin strategizing tomorrow on how to draft Mitt Romney to do what they believe Acting
Governor Jane Swift cannot: retain GOP control of the governor's office in
November.
The party activists and delegates view Romney, who just
finished a successful run as president of the Salt Lake City Organizing Committee for the Olympics, as their best hope to
continue Republican rule, and as an attractive alternative to Swift, whom they deem fatally
flawed as a candidate.
The news of a possible Romney run reverberated throughout
GOP circles, and set off unmistakable energy.
"I really don't think Swift can win the election," said
Gordon Perks, a Stoneham delegate who chairs the United Republican Task Force, a group of 25 North Shore town
Republican committees. "I've been hearing from a lot of activists who want to see if he will run or see if
we can have a draft campaign at the convention."
The interest in drafting Romney reflects the sudden division
that has emerged in the Republican Party after the venture capitalist signaled Monday that he would consider a
challenge to Swift in the GOP gubernatorial primary - a shift in position
that appeared to startle Swift's inner circle.
Facing the potential challenge, high-ranking aides to Swift
privately promised Romney a "tough, bloody" primary battle if he challenges her. Should he return to Massachusetts, they
predicted, he will face tough scrutiny over his recently stated antiabortion position.
They also plan to raise questions about his residency. The
Associated Press reported in 2000 that Romney claimed his official residence as Deer Valley, Utah, when he filed his
income taxes that year. Massachusetts law requires a candidate for governor to live in the
state for at least seven years. Romney supporters say he has maintained his home in Belmont
as his primary residence, and he has kept his voting registration here.
Yesterday, Swift's press secretary also said if Romney
reverses his vow not to challenge Swift, he cannot be trusted.
"He has said quite explicitly that he would not run against
Jane Swift and we have no reason to think he will go back on his word," said James Borghesani, Swift's press secretary. "I
don't think Mitt Romney wants to be known as a man who says one thing and does another."
Though clearly concerned, Swift advisers say they believe
Romney is trying to pressure Swift to abandon her campaign and does not want to endure a tough primary, in which he would
have to woo Republican delegates. They say she will not step aside.
But among some rank-and-file Republicans, the consensus is
that Swift cannot win and the party should consider its alternatives. Swift, who has been acting governor since April,
has seen her standing plummet as the state suffers an economic downturn and she has stumbled
politically. A recent Boston Globe/WBZ poll put her favorable-unfavorable ratings at 31-43
percent.
"Look at the reality. Look at the polls," said Denise
Jillson, who ran Republican Joseph D. Malone's challenge to then-Acting Governor Paul Cellucci in 1998. "I'm looking at it
purely from the big picture: In this state, to lose that corner office and have a Democratic governor
just takes the level of debate and discussion around policy and drops it to the point
where we're a one-party state. We cannot lose this."
The support for Romney is difficult to quantify, and some
Republicans do not want to publicly declare for him until he indicates he will definitely run. The activists said Romney and
his advisers have not been contacting party members here.
Jillson and Jon Spampinato, who managed Mike Duffy's
unsuccessful campaign for auditor in 1998, are two of eight Republican activists who are gathering tomorrow to plot
strategy to put Romney to the ballot. They said that Republican fund-raisers, state committee members,
town committee members, and delegates will join them, though they would not provide
their names.
Delegates elsewhere around the state were calling their
local committee chairs or the state party with similar hopes.
"My delegates have been asking if we can write in or draft
him somehow," said Justine Kirkwood, chairwoman of the Orleans Republican Committee on Cape Cod, who disagreed
with Swift's handling of recent issues, including her appointment of a
Democrat as Suffolk district attorney. "We just don't feel she's a solid Republican. We feel she is leaning too far
left."
Even some Swift supporters said they would not discourage
Romney from running.
Said Senator Richard Tisei, a Wakefield Republican: "I think
as Republicans we shouldn't be fearful about having a primary. It can only help the governor or whoever the eventual
nominee is and make them a stronger candidate for November ... If she can't beat Mitt
Romney in a primary then she's going to have a difficult time beating the Democrat in
November."
And Senate minority leader Brian P. Lees, a strong supporter
of Swift and her predecessors, said: "If he wanted to run I think he would be a formidable candidate. But then, Jane Swift
is, too."
Though Swift won majority support in recent Republican
caucuses, Romney would need just 15 percent of delegates to vault his name to the election ballot. A bloc of delegates
remains uncommitted to the acting governor; many of them are backing lieutenant governor candidate
James Rappaport, who is challenging Swift's pick, Patrick Guerriero.
As a result, said Republican State Committee chairwoman
Kerry Murphy Healey, "It's reasonable to believe that there might be at least 15 percent who might support another
candidate."
Healey noted that the state committee does not get involved
in encouraging or discouraging primaries and Swift's aides said they will stay the course.
"The bottom line is, he's an admirable businessman and a
commendable public servant and if he wants to run, he'll run," said Swift's chief of staff, Stephen Crosby. "There's nothing
much the governor can do about it, so she's going to continue to do the job she thinks the people
want her to do."
Romney was in Utah yesterday, and neither he nor his aides
returned calls from the Globe to talk about his timetable for making a decision. Swift was in Washington attending the
National Governors Association meeting.
A Romney candidacy would also sharply recast the Democratic
race for governor. Because of Swift's political problems, the basic assumption among Democrats was that the winner of
the party primary would be the next governor.
Democratic candidates and Swift could seize on what appears
to be a shift in Romney's stated position on abortion. In a letter last year to the Salt Lake Tribune, Romney
backpedaled from what his 1994 Senate campaign aides had described as a
pro-abortion rights position.
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The Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 27, 2002
A Boston Herald editorial
Romney re-entry great for politics
After salvaging a scandal-plagued Olympics and making sure
it went as smoothly as a Sarah Hughes spin on the ice, Mitt Romney likely could name his price in the private sector or
take his pick of public posts.
That he is even considering coming home to Massachusetts to
run for governor speaks to Romney's lingering attachment to this often difficult and always politically contentious state.
As Romney well knows, this is a place where politics remains a full-contact sport. Today
seasoned by nearly three years of dealing with the sclerotic International Olympic
Committee, he is a far wiser and more accomplished manager, diplomat and
political animal than the somewhat naive businessman who took on Sen. Ted Kennedy in 1994.
Most of his party - which, of course, is itself an exceedingly narrow subset of the political
world - will welcome his return and his entrance into the gubernatorial fight. As
for acting Gov. Jane Swift, who said, "I don't think the party needs a [gubernatorial] primary.... We
have a lot of races that are open that we hope he'll jump into."
Mitt Romney for what, auditor? Somehow we don't think so!
No one gets handed anything in life or in politics. Jane
Swift has been more fortunate than most to have been in the right place at the right time, succeeding Paul Cellucci in the
Corner Office. But no one ever promised her a free ride to November - any more than Treasurer
Shannon O'Brien or Senate President Tom Birmingham could lay claim to a clear shot at the
Democratic nomination by virtue of their incumbencies in public office.
Democracy remains a delightfully messy process and if Swift
isn't up for a challenge from Romney or anyone else, she doesn't deserve to keep the job.
Romney will need to get up to speed - and quickly - on the
intricacies of the current difficult budget process, the debate over taxes and tolls, the money pit that is the Big Dig and the
work-in-progress that is Logan Airport security. But he has proven himself a quick study in
Utah and a no-nonsense leader.
Besides, after dealing with hundreds of thousands of
tourists, thousands of athletes, one French skating judge gone slightly bonkers and Russians in a snit, a return to
Massachusetts politics might not seem so very different after all.
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The Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 27, 2002
Please, Mitt, I'm not asking anymore, I'm begging.
If you don't come back and run for governor, your home
state, which is pretty much how you described Massachusetts to more than 50 million people on TV Sunday night, is going
right down the Dukakis tubes.
Starting in January, we'll be going back to the future of
good jobs at good wages, public-private partnerships, weekend furloughs for murderers, national models and
investments in the future.
I know, Republicans are taught to wait their turn. But if
not now, when? If not you, who?
Mitt, we need you. You haven't been around, so you may not
grasp just how wretched a governor the toll-crazed Jane Swift has been.
Remember '96 around here? At the top of the GOP ticket, Dole
got 26 percent of the vote, and the Republicans lost their two seats in the U.S. House. Swift has plummeted into that
same 25-30 percent range, and what's going to stop the free fall?
Everyone on her new Turnpike board carries the Bechtel brand
on their backside. The board's assignment: to realize her dream of doubling the tolls on the Turnpike extension, like
she's already doubled the tolls on the Tobin Bridge. And then, just for laughs, she'll jack up
the tolls a buck at the tunnels.
A headline last weekend said: New Pike boss seeks ways to
ease pain of toll hike.
Mitt, there's only one way to ease toll-hike pain, and
that's by voting Jane Swift out of office. We'd rather do it in September, but if not, we'll kick her down the stairs in
November.
You may not have noticed, Mitt, but the Republicans are down
to six members in the Senate. That's right, six out of 40. How many of them do you think can survive the toll-crazed acting
governess at the top of the ticket?
The House Republicans are down to 22 members out of 160. The
House Republican leader just pulled the ripcord on his parachute.
Mitt, all Swift does is lie - about helicopters, babysitters, even her marriage certificate. Two
weeks ago she got caught finagling a big fat $420,000 pension kiss for
43-year-old Peter Forman by claiming she'd "fired" him. So everyone asked, well, if you fired Forman, why did
you put out a press release saying you were just basically transferring
him?
The answer came back, We were lying. Hey, everyone knows
they lie, so they expect you to believe them when they say: We were lying.
From the Ripon Society to the Ripoff Society. If some adult
doesn't step up, the Mass GOP is going to be so far down even Abraham Lincoln wouldn't be able to bring it back. They
used to call Tooky Amirault the bad clown. I'll tell you where the real
bad clown is - in the Corner Office.
The woman has surrounded herself with a claque of teenyboppers, gay sycophants and a few
middle-age guys named Connolly. You don't even want to hear about their living
arrangements.
Somebody should have sat Jane down during this last trip to
D.C. for a come-to-Jesus talk. She should have been taken out to meet, say, Dick Cheney, at his Fortress of Solitude,
wherever that is.
With a few 3X5 index cards from Andy Card, the vice
president could have spelled out the facts of life for the Bride of Chucky. He could have asked her, so, Governor, next
January, is your husband planning on going back to work?
Then, after that awkward silence ended, Cheney could have
inquired, do you remember your old office at Hanscom Field when you were "working" at Massport? I hear they wouldn't
even give you a phone, Governor.
Jane, wake up. Take the money and run, or these are some of
the questions you'll be asking in your new job next year:
"Paper or plastic?"
"Smoking or non-smoking?"
You think it'll be a lot of fun at the IHOP when the
blue-hairs storm in for the early-bird special? Jane and her sidekick Stacey will have their hands full with all those
deuces asking for doggy bags.
Mitt, who cares if she wants to run or not? Of course she'd
like four more years at $135,000. She'd also like her husband to get off his rear end. But that's not going to happen
either.
Run, Mitt, run. You saved the Winter Olympics. Now it's time
to save the Republican party in Massachusetts.
Howie Carr's radio show can be heard every weekday afternoon on
WRKO AM 680, WHYN AM 560, WGAN AM 560, WXTK 95.1 FM or online at howiecarr.org.
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