The Neponset Valley Daily News
Wednesday, September 18, 2002
Coughlin upsets Lewis
By Peter Hartzel / News Staff Writer
A political earthquake jolted the region yesterday,
catapulting Dedham Selectman Bob Coughlin to a Democratic primary win over four-term state Rep. Maryanne Lewis and
sending shock waves from local town halls to Beacon Hill.
In a victory widely viewed as an upset, Coughlin captured
six of seven voting precincts in Dedham - winning the hometown battleground by a margin of 3,345-2,617, or about 56
percent to almost 44 percent. That was more than enough to offset Lewis'
advantages in Westwood and the Walpole sliver of the 11th Norfolk House District.
Coughlin's overall margin of victory was 4,617-4,361, or
about 51 percent to almost 49 percent.
The Lewis campaign had been confidently predicting a victory
with a lead of 1,000 votes or more. But in Dedham, only the low-turnout Precinct 1 supported her. The home
neighborhood of both Democrats, the Oakdale neighborhood's Precinct 4, favored
Coughlin, 651-434.
"I don't know what to say! We did it!" a jubilant Coughlin
exclaimed to hundreds of supporters at a victory party at the VFW hall in Dedham. He entered to the stereo blast of
the "Rocky" theme. Outside on Eastern Avenue, wild cheering and honking of car horns
ensued.
Lewis showed up at the VFW at shortly after 9 p.m., a little
over an hour after polls closed, to concede the race to Coughlin in a statement to his brother, Kevin, and others.
"What are you doing here?" somebody asked as she emerged
from a white Toyota Celica convertible outside the hall.
"I'm here to concede," Lewis said.
Coughlin will face the winner of the Republican primary, Joe
Pascarella of Dedham, in the Nov. 5 general election.
Lewis was first elected in 1994 and ran unopposed in the
last three elections. Despite losing the primary, she is allowed to serve through January, when Coughlin or Pascarella
will be sworn in as the district's new representative.
More than 47 percent of Dedham's registered voters - 7,358
of 15,471 - participated in yesterday's party primaries. Turnout exceeded even the most optimistic town clerk
projection, which was around 30 percent.
The mood of anger and frustration at a Lewis campaign
gathering at Moseley's on the Charles provided a sharp counterpoint to the euphoria of the Coughlin campaign on the
other side of town. Lewis declined to be interviewed.
Her father, John Lewis, issued a statement saying she
"congratulates Bob Coughlin and wishes him well" and is "truly thankful to the people of the district to have had the
privilege of representing them for the past eight years."
The defeat of Lewis - an assistant House majority leader and
loyalist of Speaker Thomas Finneran - will have major ramifications at the State House, political observers said. The
four-term incumbent's political downfall is being linked to her close association with the
controversial Finneran.
"This is big. This may be the beginning of restoring
democracy to Massachusetts. Speaker Finneran's iron-fisted grasp has been loosened. I think the rest of Finneran's
favorites have to pay attention: There is a cost to misplaced loyalty, and the voters tonight in Dedham
extracted it from Maryanne Lewis," said Chip Ford, director of operations for
Citizens for Limited Taxation, one of several groups across the
political spectrum that targeted Lewis for defeat.
The collision of political trajectories of the 32-year-old
Coughlin and the 39-year-old Lewis made for one of the most closely watched House races in the state. Coughlin made some
missteps early in his campaign, but he began picking up momentum over the summer as he
knocked on thousands of doors throughout the district and garnered major institutional
endorsements.
"In 40 years of being involved in political campaigns, I
have never seen such a well-organized group of people. It was a team," said Richard Browne, Coughlin's Dedham campaign
manager.
Lewis, meanwhile, was dogged throughout the race by
sharp-tongued Republican candidates Pascarella and Dan Smith and by activists angry about the lawmaker's opposition to
popularly passed ballot initiatives including the income tax rollback and the Clean Elections
Law.
She touted her leadership clout at every turn, but her
pronouncements were lost amid an almost daily barrage of criticism faulting the Legislature for late budgets, cronyism
and scandals such as "phantom voting."
With others tearing into Lewis, Coughlin was able to run a
positive campaign centered on his slogan, "It is time for a change on Beacon Hill."
Political commentator Joe Heisler said the ouster of Lewis
"could have a fairly major impact up in the House because Maryanne Lewis is well-liked and very influential - and if she
can be toppled perhaps they are in danger."
Heisler, a Dedham-based pundit, said he believes Coughlin's
primary victory in the historically Democratic-leaning district effectively guarantees him the House seat.
"This race is over after the primary," Heisler said.
But Pascarella, the Republican upstart who rose from his
virtual anonymity of less than a year ago to claim his party's nomination yesterday, warned Coughlin not to start measuring
the drapes on Beacon Hill just yet.
"We have an important message and we've given a lot of
Republicans a lot of excitement. This is an open seat (now), as far as the Republican Party is concerned. The party is going to
devote a lot of time and money to race like this, so I feel very good about our chances."
Coughlin, it was clear, feels good about his chances, too.
"This is just the beginning," he told his supporters last
night. "Let's go win in November!"
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