It's Patrick in a romp
Bay State win makes history

By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff  |  November 8, 2006

Completing one of the most extraordinary political journeys the state has seen, Democrat Deval L. Patrick won a landslide victory yesterday over Republican Kerry Healey and two other candidates to become the first African-American elected governor of Massachusetts.

Patrick, a former federal civil rights prosecutor and corporate lawyer making his first run for public office, rolled up huge margins across the state, clearing the way for the Democrats to capture the governor's office after 16 years of GOP control. Independent Christy Mihos and Green-Rainbow Party candidate Grace Ross trailed far behind Healey.

With election results from more than 90 percent of the state's precincts showing him holding a 56 percent to 35 percent over Healey, Patrick appeared before a crowd of 6,000 supporters and Democratic leaders at the Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center last night and declared that his campaign was a "movement for change."

"Today . . . the people of Massachusetts chose by a decisive margin to take back their government," Patrick said. He said the voters had rejected a "government by gimmicks and sound bites," and he promised to head an administration that is less divisive and more inclusive of the political and economic spectrum.

Patrick also asserted that his candidacy represented a broad coalition of Massachusetts citizens, from all walks of life and made reference to his journey from the poverty-stricken neighborhood of his youth in Chicago to the top levels of the federal government and to the boardrooms of multinational corporations.

"You are every black man, woman, and child in Massachusetts and America and every other striver of every other race and kind who is reminded tonight that the American dream is for you, too," Patrick told the jubilant crowd. He was joined in the celebration by his running mate, Mayor Timothy P. Murray of Worcester, and US Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry.

Patrick's election marks a watershed for Massachusetts, which has only once before elected a black man to statewide office. Voters elected Republican Edward W. Brooke attorney general in 1962 and US senator in 1966 and 1972. Patrick is the second African-American to be elected governor in the United States since Reconstruction; L. Douglas Wilder served a term as Virginia's governor from 1990 to 1994.

Healey, appearing before her supporters at a Boston hotel about an hour after polls closed, congratulated Patrick for what she called a "great victory." She also noted that the election marked a historic moment in state political history.

"Barriers have been broken, and we should all be grateful for that," Healey said.

"I pray that God will give him the wisdom to lead Massachusetts into prosperity and lead us to innovation," Healey said, extending a public graciousness to her rival that she never used during their bitterly fought campaign. "I am very hopeful that he will do exactly that."

As ballots were counted last night, Patrick, battling in a four-way race, rolled up a wide margin. But he did not outpoll the state's record gubernatorial landslide set in 1994, when incumbent governor William F. Weld beat Democrat Mark Roosevelt by 42.6 percentage points in a two-man campaign.

Patrick won a commanding majority of both women and men and, with an overwhelming majority among liberals, also beat Healey among those who described themselves as moderates and independents, according to an exit poll conducted for Associated Press.

Patrick, 50, of Milton, ran up huge margins in urban centers that traditionally support Democrats, in the liberal communities around the state, and in small communities in Western Massachusetts. Healey, the state's lieutenant governor, drew her votes in traditionally Republican areas, but couldn't get traction in areas such as the Merrimack Valley, suburban towns, and Cape Cod, where Republicans have usually gained enough support to win statewide elections.

Patrick's victory was fueled by heavy voting in many of the state's minority districts. Turnout in some areas of Boston was so strong that polling stations ran out of ballots, leaving long lines of frustrated voters. City officials rushed to get new ballots to those polling places.

Patrick carried Boston by a 3-to-1 ratio, and had solid majorities in predominantly white neighborhoods such as South Boston and West Roxbury. He also drew strong support from his hometown, where 80 percent of Milton's registered voters showed up to cast ballots. In his own precinct, the turnout was 88 percent.

Patrick's victory marks the outcome of a campaign that few predicted early on. He appeared on the Massachusetts political scene in early 2005, expressing an interest in running for governor. He was a virtual unknown, with few political contacts in the Beacon Hill establishment and no financial base.

After announcing his campaign that April, he proceeded to woo liberal activists and others with inspirational themes of inclusiveness and hope, while vowing to bring a change to the state's political culture. His campaign recruited thousands of highly enthusiastic volunteers, allowing him to build a statewide organization and outflank his Democratic rivals, Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly and businessman Christopher Gabrieli. He won the three-way primary with 50 percent of the vote.

His huge victory at the polls yesterday concludes a bitter general election battle in which Healey sought to portray him as a liberal in the mold of former governor Michael S. Dukakis. She criticized him as soft on crime, assailed his support for special tuition rates and driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, and slammed his refusal to back her call to roll back the state income tax to 5 percent. She also pumped up the theme that voters should prefer a Republican as governor to balance the Democrat -controlled Legislature.

Healey's controversial decision to air negative attack ads against Patrick in mid-October shook up the campaign, with polls showing his once-commanding lead narrowing at first. But the increasingly tough tone of her commercials produced a backlash from voters, and soon her unfavorable rating rose over 50 percent.

Healey's attacks on him on the other issues also did not diminish his standings, polls showed, though her positions, including the tax rollback debate, were favored by a majority of voters. Instead, the electorate seemed drawn to Patrick's personality, his ability to connect when he addressed crowds and met voters, and his inspirational themes, including his calls to put aside partisan bickering.

Patrick's victory in the contest is another chapter of an extraordinary success story for a product of Chicago's South Side. He had won scholarships to attend Milton Academy and Harvard University and Harvard Law School. He headed the US Justice Department's civil rights division during the Clinton administration and later served as general counsel to Coca-Cola and Texaco.

Healey's loss is a major blow to the Massachusetts Republican Party, now at its lowest point in its 150-year history.

The GOP numbers in the 200-member state Legislature have never been smaller and, for the first time since 1991, the party holds no constitutional offices. No Massachusetts Republican has held a congressional seat since 1996.

Healey's defeat is also a political embarrassment for Governor Mitt Romney. He had picked her as his running mate in 2002, and some observers are citing him as a factor in her defeat.

Transcript of Deval Patrick's acceptance speech

November 8, 2006

Thank you, thank you all. You better believe we can. Thank you all.

Today, November 7, 2006, the people of Massachusetts chose by a decisive margin to take their government back.

This was not a victory just for me. This was not a victory just for Democrats. This was a victory for hope.

And we won it the old-fashioned way – we earned it. Nearly two years ago, we started on this journey, and by coming to you, where you live and work, by listening to you, by showing that we could disagree with each other without being disagreeable, by asking you to put your cynicism down, by refusing to build myself up by tearing anybody else down, by challenging you to see your stake in your neighbor’s dreams and struggles as well as your own, we built what history will record is the broadest and best-organized grassroots organization this Commonwealth has ever seen.

Now I ask you to look around. Look around, especially those of you who have never been a part of a campaign. Every kind of person is here. You come from every corner of the Commonwealth. You come from great wealth and no wealth. You walk and you use wheelchairs. Democrats and Independents and Republicans are here. You are liberal and moderate and conservative.

You see in common how broken our civic life and how fractured our communities are. You see in common that the poor are in terrible shape and the middle class are one month away from being poor. And you know that government by gimmick and sound bite isn’t working. You know that we deserve better and we are better than that. And for a chance at a better and more hopeful future, you built bridges some of you never thought could be built across all kinds of differences -- and then you crossed them.

You are business executives looking for a better margin and artists looking to be valued. You are college kids in search of a career and high school drop-outs looking for a way forward. You are young mothers trying to balance work and child care and grandmothers trying to hold on to the family home. You are farmers and fishing families wondering whether there is a future in livelihoods that built this Commonwealth and union members wondering why there is so little work when there is so much to do. And the magic is that you have come together not just for your own dreams and your own aspirations, but for each others’.

This has never been my campaign. It has always been yours. The real heroes here are the thousands of you, here and at home, many who have never been involved before in a political campaign, who set aside what you were doing to get involved, who confronted your despair about the direction our Commonwealth has been heading in, and decided to take responsibility for her future.

You are the young man from Boston who took the midnight bus from college in New York to be at the polls to vote this morning, then hopped on the next bus back to New York so that he could be back in time for his internship. You are the mother who thanked me this morning for running a campaign her kids could watch and be proud of. You are the retiree who told me the other day that this campaign changed her life. You are the homeless man who figured out how to register and vote without an address, because he did not want to be left out again. You are the venture capitalist in the office tower who organized other VCs to help, and the cleaning crew who stopped us in the lobby on the way in to say, 'I'm with you, too.' You are the new citizen who says with such pride that you cast your first vote for Tim and me. You are the tired and frustrated public official, who just got your second wind. You are every Black man, woman and child in Massachusetts and America, and every other striver of every race and kind, who is reminded tonight that the American Dream is for you, too.

You are the ones who transformed this from a political campaign to a movement for change, and I am honored and awed by what you have done. You made a claim on history, and I thank you for letting me be a part of that.

I have been blessed with the best campaign manager and the best strategist on the planet in John Walsh and Doug Rubin. I have also been blessed with an extraordinary staff, who stand with me tonight as they have for many, many months now. I have been blessed with an amazing running mate in Tim Murray. And I have been blessed with a family stronger than steel, especially my wife, Diane.

I have also been blessed many times over by the people of Massachusetts. A people so proud, so optimistic, so practical, so hopeful. I'm not forgetting Ron Bell, relax. I'm not forgetting you, either, and I never will. The people of Massachusetts are so proud, so optimistic, so practical, so hopeful. A people of ingenuity and drive and grit and determination. A people of fundamental civility and warmth. A people from a tradition of high standards and high expectations. This is the character of the people of Massachusetts. This is the character you reflected in this campaign. And these are the people I am honored to serve come January as your Governor.

Unfortunately, there is unpleasantness in any political campaign. This one had perhaps more than its share. But let’s put all that behind us. See, that's yesterday. I am not here to serve as governor of the winners. I am here to serve as governor of the whole Commonwealth. So, just as you have built bridges across differences to create this grassroots movement, go build bridges with supporters of the competing campaigns. They are our neighbors, too. They are a part of this community, too. They have a stake in a fair and purposeful government, just like the rest of us.

Let me start by congratulating Kerry Healey, Christy Mihos and Grace Ross. They had the courage to put their ideas and their vision on the line, and subject it to scrutiny and critique. They deserve our gratitude and respect for the thoughtful contributions they each made to the public discourse.

Let us also thank Mitt Romney for his service. (boos from the crowd) No, wait a minute. That is not what we are about. We have had our differences, but every resident of this state owes a debt of gratitude for anyone willingness to serve, and I thank him for him for that service and the accomplishments of his administration, and I look forward to working with him and his team to ensure a smooth transition.

Tonight we celebrate, but soon our thoughts must turn to governing. We are charged with an awesome responsibility. We have a mandate to revive this economy, to assure excellence in every public school and college, and to deliver on the promise of decent health care. We have a mandate to make the streets safe and housing more affordable. We have a mandate to get the Big Dig right and to help the creative economy flourish. We have a mandate to change the way we do business on Beacon Hill and to keep the grassroots alive and growing. And that mandate is Commonwealth-wide, and it comes from everyone here and everyone in the Commonwealth in search of a reason to hope.

You know change won’t come in a flash. You know that it will take focus and commitment and patience. But you also know that government by gimmick and photo op and sound bite has failed us. Do not expect more of that from me.

What you should expect is that I will work as hard and as smart as I can; that I will listen closely and carefully; that I will be straight with you, as I expect you to be with me; that I will make mistakes, as humans sometimes do, and that I will learn from them when I do; that I will bring every day the best that I have and the best that I am.

And what I expect from you is that you keep this renewed sense of community alive; that you see your stake in each other every day; that you ask what you can do to make Massachusetts stronger and do it; that you don’t let cynicism win, ever -- even when I make mistakes. We didn’t build up this grassroots just to win an election. We built up the grassroots to govern in a whole new way, to make change real, and lasting, and meaningful. And that means, to be sure, that we have to refuse the politics of division and fear “out there.” But it also means some changes “in here,” within the Democratic Party. We have to learn to listen to those who want to help with what’s wrong with Democrats just as openly as we listen to those who tell us what’s wrong with Republicans. See, the grassroots is a power of citizenship. It transcends party, it outlasts party, and it has to lift us all up. And it doesn't end with this election.

In an article in mid-January 2005, the Boston Globe first reported that I was considering getting into this race. I visited my ailing mother that evening to show her the headline. She smiled, kissed me and she said her last good-bye – and then a few hours later, she passed away. We spread her ashes just this morning, Election Day, as a way to mark this milestone in our family’s journey, and to honor her lasting presence in our lives.

She was a remarkable woman. Tough and ornery, and blunt, and opinionated. When we were waiting at the Chicago airport in 1970 when I was 14 years old, as I was about go off alone to Massachusetts for the first time, someone asked her whether she was afraid for me. She said, 'No, he knows he can always come home.'

Nearly 40 years later, Massachusetts is still my home. If I ever had any doubts about that, your support and encouragement and your grace in countless ways over the course of this long campaign has affirmed that for me and for my whole family. What my mother gave me, in that comment, was a confidence about the foundation on which the future is built, and our ability to shape it, and you have strengthened that.

I have told you before that my grandmother used to say, “hope for the best, and work for it.” Well, we have succeeded in raising each others’ hopes, and I can’t wait to get to work.

God bless you all. Thank you so much.

Carving a path as lawyer and governor's wife

By Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff  |  November 9, 2006

The wife of incoming Governor Deval L. Patrick said yesterday that she wants to focus public attention on early childhood education and domestic violence, while also keeping her busy schedule as a lawyer in a top Boston law firm.

Diane Patrick, 54, said she wants to be more prominent publicly than previous spouses of governors. She said she is a frequent adviser to her husband of 22 years, who won election Tuesday.

"I've never been shy about telling Deval my views," she added with a laugh. "I think he expects to hear them, but I don't expect they will carry the day."

In a telephone interview on a busy first day after the election, Patrick said she studied early childhood education in college, "so I recognize the importance of an early start."

She also has spoken publicly about the fear of violence she felt in her stormy first marriage, and she said yesterday that her own experience made her want to work on domestic violence awareness.

"I think that in recent years, particularly, domestic violence has lost a lot of important visibility and support," she said. "If I can do anything to give more prominence to the issues and to the solutions there, that's what I would like to do."

Patrick said she is not certain what people expect of her as the next governor's spouse -- and it feels a bit surreal to be called that, she said.

"I almost feel like I should go out and try to find a book, 'First Ladies for Dummies,' " she said. "The people I've asked who seem to have some sense of it say, 'Look, this is something you have to figure out on your own with Deval.' "

Patrick spent yesterday morning shuttling her daughters, ages 17 and 20, to the airport and the train station so they could get back to school. Her younger daughter, Katherine, attends St. Andrew's School in Delaware, and her older daughter, Sarah, goes to New York University.

After dropping off her daughters, Patrick said, she began answering the massive volume of calls and e-mails from well-wishers from across the country. Next she hopped on a two-hour conference call with her clients at Ropes & Gray. When she hung up, the doorbell kept ringing with more deliveries of flowers and balloons.

"It is an interesting metaphor for how I have been and hope to continue to balance the life we have," she said yesterday.

Patrick is a partner in the labor and employment department of Ropes & Gray. The firm lists state and quasi-public state authorities among its clients for bond counsel work. During the campaign, Richard Chacon, spokesman for Deval L. Patrick's campaign, said the candidate would seek advice from the ethics commission to avoid conflicts of interest if Patrick were elected, and yesterday Diane Patrick said much the same.

"I have worked within my own firm to develop a process for dealing with potential conflicts of interest, and we will deal with those on a case-by-case basis . . . Deval on his end would work with the state Ethics Commission to determine whether there are any conflicts or any appearance of conflicts, and we would avoid any conflicts as appropriate," she said. "Right now, we don't anticipate any."

Carol Hardy-Fanta , director of the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at the University of Massachusetts at Boston , said Diane Patrick fits the new model for political spouses -- she is half of a high-achieving couple who support each other's careers.

"There isn't such a need for social hostesses for governors anymore," she said. "What you need is people who can inspire and be partners with elected-official spouses -- whatever gender they are. One would never expect a woman governor's husband to stop working and greet people at the door."

Yesterday, Ann Romney, wife of Governor Mitt Romney, said Patrick's life may not change dramatically. Ann Romney has focused public attention on multiple sclerosis and faith-based initiatives.

"It doesn't need to change your life at all," Ann Romney said yesterday. "I think it's an opportunity for service and an opportunity to see people of all walks of life from across the Commonwealth. . . . It's an enriching part of your life, and she'll treasure it forever."

"I'd love to chat with her; I'll give her my own personal advice," she said with a laugh, "but not through the papers."

Diane Patrick played a prominent role on the campaign trail by speaking as Deval L. Patrick's surrogate across the state. Warm and engaging, she has been a favorite of Patrick supporters on the campaign trail. Her husband often joked that the more she campaigned on his behalf, the more his supporters began to ask: "Why that guy? Why not her?"

She also seemed to ground him, appearing with him at the most critical speeches and heated debates. The night before the election, she joined Patrick for a homecoming rally at the Milton Hoosic Club near their home.

"If there is one person who could have and would have beat Deval Patrick in this election it is Diane Bemus Patrick," said state Senator Brian A. Joyce , a Milton neighbor and supporter. The place erupted in whistles and cheers -- including her husband's.

Diane Patrick said she feels "incredibly proud" of the campaign her husband ran, resisting pressure to attack his Republican opponent, Kerry Healey, after she came after him with attack ads. She is glad the campaign is over, but she grew solemn when she considered what lies ahead.

"Now, I think the tremendous responsibility that has been placed in his hands to deliver -- it's an awesome responsibility," she said. "There's a lot of hard work ahead. But you know, he's always been up to the challenge, and he will be again."