Massachusetts in 1988

[WalterMitty]

i think dukakis popularity in massachusetts was certainly on the wane by 1988.  dont forget, in just two years he would be out of office (and the democrats havent won the governorship since) 

[WalterMitty]

also, dukakis was never overly popular with the blue collars in massachusetts.

let's not forget, after only one term as governor, in 1978 dukakis was defeated in the democrat primary by the very conservative edward king (chelsea native)

also, for what it is worth, hw bush was born in massachusetts.

[WalterMitty]

also, dukakis was never overly popular with the blue collars in massachusetts.

let's not forget, after only one term as governor, in 1978 dukakis was defeated in the democrat primary by the very conservative edward king (chelsea native)

True, that.

Kerry doesn't seem to have been very popular in working class areas either:



'96 Senate map

yeah.  i dont think kerry has ever been too popular with the working class. 

in 1982, kerry was elected lt. governor with dukakis at the top of the ticket.  most considered kerry to be *more* liberal than dukakis.

i  think most americans have the wrong idea about massachusetts.  they think of it as a pinko-liberal state.  yes, there are portions of the state that are infested with pinkos--cambridge, boston, the berkshires...  but the rest of the state is suburban and working and middle class.  and one cannot underestimate the influence of catholicism in massachusetts politics.

the democrats are fixing to lose another governor's race, because they are going to nominate a guy the pinkos like (deval patrick), instead of nominating a guy that can do well among the working class (tom reilly)

[WalterMitty]

Kennedy also polled worse in some counties than Humphrey would do 8 years later. Humphrey took Plymouth and Kennedy didn't (Johnson took every county, but that of course was an exceptional election)

I assume these counties were disproportionately Protestant areas (by Massachusetts standards)? The 1960 results had a heavy Catholic for Kennedy/Protestant for Nixon split, moreso than pretty much any election ever (1928 as well, possibly even greater than 1960).

Plymouth and Barnstaple were Protestant, rich, and very traditionally Republican back then.

they still are, lewis.  of course their republicanism is relative.  those two counties are the two most republican in the state.  from what i understand, plymouth county is heavily suburban.

[WalterMitty]

Both counties voted strongly Republican in the '98 and '02 Gubernatorial elections, and both still have quite a few Republican State Reps.

hey, al, didnt middlesex vote republican in 02?  that is hard to believe.  middlesex hasnt gone democrat in presidential elections in 4 decades or more (it even went relatively strongly for mcgovern), yet a conservative mormon (romney) carries it in the election of 02.

[WalterMitty]

Yes it did; by about 4.7%. It was very close in 1998 though.

Quite a few towns changed between the two elections:



Light blue = R gain, Pink = D gain

im still amazed middlesex voted for a conservative romney while it didnt vote for a very moderate paul celluci in 1998.

that should go to show that mitt romney has some serious political skills.