Bipartisan Politics

Bipartisan politics is in the eyes of the beholder. (Cara Bayles, "Super
Tuesday brings politiking closer to home," Weekly Dig, December 5, 2007, page 7)
GOP Director says "Both parties are interested in getting more attention."
A spokesman for the Democrats agreed saying, "this one shot through the
Legislature with bipartisan support. [. . .] If the governor and the speaker and
the senate president and the secretary are all in agreement about this, it must
be a good idea," he said. All of those elected officials are Democrats.
If the Republicans opposed the idea what are the chances of them stopping
it?

Roy Bercaw, Editor ENOUGH ROOM

Super Tuesday brings politicking closer to home
By Cara Bayles
Weekly Dig
December 5, 2007

Last week, Gov. Deval Patrick signed a bill to bump the Massachusetts primary up
a month, from March to February. Unlike so many bills that have sunk into a mire
of negotiation, this one shot through the Legislature with bipartisan support.

Alex Goldstein, spokesman for the Massachusetts Democratic Party, said the
united support wasn't terribly surprising. "If the governor and the speaker and
the senate president and the secretary are all in agreement about this, it must
be a good idea," he said. "Both parties would like their state's primary to be
as relevant as possible."

Robert Willington, Executive Director of the Massachusetts GOP, agreed and
anticipated a step-up in campaigning. "I think that was the point," he said.
"Both parties are interested in getting more attention just like Iowa and New
Hampshire."

And there's been a flutter of campaigning in Massachusetts already. Barack Obama
came here Sunday to bask in Gov. Patrick's endorsement and host "Boston's
Countdown to Change." And First Sir hopeful Bill Clinton was in town Monday,
hosting an expensive fundraiser on his wife's behalf.

Secretary of State William Galvin drew names Tuesday to determine the order
candidates would appear on the state's ballot (picking pieces of paper from a
barrel rather than listing names alphabetically is true democracy). Galvin was
an outspoken supporter of pushing up the primary date.
Both Parties?

"The way the calendar was becoming front-loaded, it was a very real possibility
that our primary wouldn't matter much," said Galvin spokesman Brian McNiff.
"Super Tuesday, Super Duper Tuesday, call it what you will."

So-called "Super Tuesday," when the largest number of states simultaneously hold
primaries, has been in early March since 1988. But this year, states scrambled
to get ahead of the pack, which has simply resulted in pushing that Tuesday up a
month. In all, 23 states will hold their primary on February 5th.

McNiff doubts this will have an effect on voter turnout in Massachusetts. "But I
think voter turnout would have been negatively impacted if we hadn't pushed the
date up," he said. "People would have seen projections saying the primary was
already decided and not bothered to go out and vote."

The state party committees will have an earlier deadline to select delegates for
the national convention. And the deadline to register to vote and to switch
parties, has changed with the primary date. It is now Wednesday, January 15th.