Democratic Caucus

This afternoon, I volunteered at our local Democratic caucus. The caucus selects delegates to attend the state convention, which chooses the Governor candidates for the primary. All of the delegates selected support Deval Patrick. I have been excited about Deval Patrick since I saw him speak in Amherst last year. He seems like a breath of fresh air in the Democratic party in the state. I was a little sorry because another ADTC member whom I respect had wished there might be one delegate from Amherst that would support Reilly. There was, however, only delegate nominee who even expressed support for Reilly and he was not elected -- it wasn't even close. Reilly has been self-destructing over the past several weeks. He got involved with a case that he shouldn't have, he made a bone-head selection for a running mate, and then here is how he was quoted in the press today.

Reilly acknowledged Thursday that his selection of a running mate ''could have been handled better,'' and said his poor political skills were to blame. ''I have to work and improve on the politics of this campaign,'' he said.

It seems to me that someone with poor political skills doesn't have any business running for governor, let alone being governor.

One problem with the way the Massachusetts Democratic governor selection process works is that they have their primary so late. The primary isn't until September 19 and then the general election is less than two months away (November 7). We ought to have the primary earlier, so that the entire party has more time to unite behind a single candidate.

There has been a lot of pressure to get me to be the chair of the ADTC, but I have so far declined. I would probably be an acceptable chair, but I think I'm better as secretary than I would be as chair and, in the absence of someone who could step into my shoes as secretary, I'm unwilling to take on the responsibility as chair. Being chair would probably require me to call people on the telephone, which is right out, as far as I'm concerned.