Publisher's Notebook:
December 2002 Print Edition

Romney Won Because of Social Issues; But He's Not Following Reagan's Example

Please don't complain that MassNews talks too much about social issues, as some readers do now and then.

It was the "social issues" that gave the election to Mitt Romney, although he doesn't appear to understand that.

Romney is following George Bush, Sr., Bob Dole, Bill Weld and Paul Cellucci, who are not inspiring to anyone. Their only goal is personal. They don't believe in anything important. Getting elected is their only goal.

It works for a while, but none of them has the admiration of the people as Ronald Reagan did. Just think of all the "Reagan Democrats" he had supporting him. Romney is not following Reagan's path. He is heading for the "middle," which means he will change as the polls change, just as Bill Clinton did. He will do anything to get votes.

Going to the middle, plus the power of the Boston Globe and Natalie Jacobson and his immense wealth, won Bill Weld an election against the much-maligned John Silber in 1990. But it didn't do anything when Weld ran for the U.S. Senate in 1996 against John Kerry. Nobody ever voted for Weld because they liked him, only because he had positioned himself properly for one election. It worked in 1990 and the Democrats then allowed him to romp over a loser in 1994, but Weld never had a strong foundation of loyal citizens.

Weld was a disaster for the two-party system, which is essential for any successful democracy. When he came in, the Republican Party was on life-support, but when he left, it was dead.

Romney is doing the same thing. Most of his old supporters from the failed 1994 Senate bid against Kennedy quickly found in 2002 that Romney literally would not even talk to them.

Romney was lucky, as Weld was, because Romney's strongest opponent, Senator Tom Birmingham, self-destructed when he violated the state Constitution by not taking a vote as he is required to do on the Protection of Marriage Amendment. As a result, Birmingham did poorly in the primary and the inexperienced Shannon O'Brien became Romney's opponent. She made things much worse for herself by promoting gay marriage and civil unions.

But Romney doesn't realize this. He thinks that the social conservatives are a weight around his neck. He doesn't realize why there was desperation at the Boston Globe when they discovered that Catholic women were not planning to vote for Shannon O'Brien. It's because those voters are social conservatives, Mitt.

And it was Mass. Citizens for Marriage and MassNews that caused those voters to understand the issues and vote against O'Brien and her gay marriage bit. MassNews mailed a quarter-of-a-million copies around the state last month. They weren't voting for you, Mitt. You don't espouse their views. You ran away from the issue. If O'Brien had not alienated her base, she would have won. You have not excited those voters, and you probably never will because you are apparently another Bill Weld.

It's not too late to become a real statesman and stand for something important. We hope you do.

But we can't totally blame you. As long as the Republicans, Libertarians and others in this state continue to believe that electing a Governor is the only important thing, we will continue to look like Alabama and Mississippi and never start a two-party system. It is only when the people get serious, start working at the local level and electing some good state Reps and Senators that we will see any significant change in politics in this state.

(As for MassNews, we have just hired another writer so we can cover many additional stories. Please wish us well with your support and prayers.)