Good Senate Hunting

I grew up here in the Commonwealth in what is now the 2nd Essex Senatorial district, whose seat has been held for the last 40 million years or so by current Senate Majority Leader Fred Berry. He not only has been a stalwart for his party and his district, but also, to his credit, wouldn't know me from a hole in the ground.

But now that I have wound my way west and gotten more involved in the process, I can say that I will be personally acquainted and have held face-to-face discussions with my next State Senator. Want proof? I took this picture at a Rotary Club event a couple weeks ago:


Here holding the shiny blue Rotary mugs that inspire politicians everywhere, we have, L-R, Ben Downing (D-Pittsfield), Matt Kinnaman (R-Lenox), and Dion Robbins-Zust (I-Richmond). One of them is off to Beacon Hill to represent me and 152,299 of my closest friends.

The post-primary campaign has been a remarkably chummy affair. There have been more hairline jokes from Ben and Matt (the title of this post...get it now?) than in any other political campaign I've ever followed. There's been no October surprise, dirty campaign ads, "Macaca" moments, mailer meddling, or resume puffery. Keep in mind, now, that without a great resume puffery story back in September, there would be absolutely no hairline jokes in this campaign. So special thanks to Chris Hodgkins, who could have run away with it had he not orally Photoshopped himself next to Donald Trump and Warren Buffett.

Eventually, though, most elections are less about hair than about votes. Who to vote for?

Dion is a character. An original. He has an eye for The Show, which really comes in handy in the Politisphere. Not a policy wonk, nor a politics-as-usual guy. But he's probably going to poll the typical 6 or so percent next Tuesday. Not that I'm saying "don't vote for him", but it is not yet the time for the Green/Rainbow Party to ride the historical tide of backlash against the 2-party system into statewide office.

I bet his election night party is going to more fun than the other two, though.

Matt Kinnaman presented us with a challenge. Before the primary, Tara and I both were prepared to cross the line rather than vote for Chris Hodgkins. So we looked at his positions, and we listened to him speak. And we liked him, although it was hard to really believe that a vote for him would "restore balance" to the Legislature. But since he sounded enough like a Weldian/Patakian/Bloombergian liberal Republican with moderate tendencies, I could have been OK with him as one of Our Men In Boston...right up until I asked him about his position on choice.

My question to him was designed to get a straight-up answer: "Given the leanings of our Federal Government and our increasingly conservative Supreme Court, pretend Roe v. Wade is overturned and the issue is put before the states. A bill is before you to outlaw all voluntary terminations of pregnancy except where the life of the mother is endangered. Do you vote for it?"

He first tried to deflect the issue to parental notification, then I picked out three phrasings of a fairly long paragraph of a response that seemed to reveal his stance: "I respect the sanctity of life", "it would be hard for me to vote against my conscience", and "I'm still wrestling with the issue." A man says that instead of "yes" or "no", then I'm going to have a hard time switching parties to vote for him. It's less about the content of the answer than the format, in this case, to be honest, especially when the other guys answer is an unhesitating "No way, dude."

That brings us to Ben Downing. Back in August, I wrote a Letter to the Editor suggesting Margie Ware was the best qualified Democrat in the primary. In it, I questioned Ben Downing's motivations for running, writing that I thought he was only using the seat as a launching pad to a larger political career.

I hadn't actually met Ben at that point; I was using the power of persuasive penmanship to rally support for my candidate...although I did mention that I liked him. I heard him at a few more debates, watched him behave admirably during the campaign, and realized that as valid as my objection is, it doesn't mean he's not going to be an effective legislator for the years that he does actually hold the office.

So, a few days before the primary (I think on the day Mayor Barrett endorsed Chris Hodgkins), Tara and I were kicking it over at Ware HQ on Main St when we saw Ben head into the Cup and Saucer. I followed him in and introduced myself, and told him that if Marge doesn't win the primary, that I'd be proud to support him. I meant it, too. And I'll say it, for what it's worth: I'm going to vote for Ben Downing on Tuesday, and I think you should too.

Next up: the Governor's Council race. Your assignment for next week is to know more than the average Mass resident knows about the Governor's Council. Expected time to accomplish this: 26 seconds.