Keep Democrats On Their Toes

Over the course of a few hours on Tuesday, the Massachusetts governor’s race turned from a virtually uncontested coronation of the eventual Democratic nominee into a competitive, engaging general election. Acting Gov. Jane Swift’s announcement that she will not run, coupled with the fact that former Senate candidate and chair of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee Mitt Romney has entered the race, promise at the very least an exciting campaign this fall.

While the Democrats would likely prefer to have faced Swift, who suffered through several scandals during her terms as Lieutenant Governor and Acting Governor, a substantive and competitive election is very much in the public interest. An interesting election will bring Massachusetts residents to the polls and get them involved in both candidates’ campaigns. It will foster more genuine debate over real issues and reinvigorate the Massachusetts political landscape.

Massachusetts is dominated by Democrats; the legislature has fewer Republicans than Yale has good football players, and though the last Democratic governor was Michael Dukakis, moderate William F. Weld ’66 almost single-handedly embodied the Republican presence in the state over the last decade. The Democrats need a strong opponent to keep them on their toes, to force them to produce innovative and original ideas; it will serve neither them nor the public well if the Republican nominee is a pushover.

Romney is far from that. Fresh off organizing a largely successful Winter Olympics, he should be a strong candidate against whichever of the five Democrats is eventually nominated. Romney proved himself a viable candidate in Massachusetts when he gave revered Democratic Senator Edward M. Kennedy ’54-’56 a strong challenge in 1994, eventually losing 58 to 41 percent.

The upcoming election ought to emulate the governor’s race between Weld and Senator John F. Kerry in 1996—a clean, serious seven-debate contest in which the candidates sparred over crucial issues like education and crime. Regardless of the outcome, Massachusetts voters deserve to have two reasonable and viable competitors in the governor’s race. Swift, with all her baggage, could not offer a substantive campaign; Romney at least gives the people of this state a serious choice.