Massachusetts gubernatorial election, 2002

Massachusetts gubernatorial election, 2002

1998 ← November 5, 2002 → 2006

Candidate Mitt Romney Shannon O'Brien Jill Stein Party Republican Democratic Green Popular vote 1,091,988 985,981 76,530 Percentage 49.77% 44.94% 3.49%

Municipality Results

Governor before election Jane Swift Republican Elected Governor Mitt Romney Republican

The Massachusetts gubernatorial election of 2002 was held on November 5, 2002. Businessman Mitt Romney was elected to a four-year term, to be served from January 2, 2003 until January 4, 2007. Every four years, Massachusetts holds state-wide elections for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of the Commonwealth, State Treasurer, and Auditor. The Primary election was September 17, 2002.

Republicans

Governor

In 2002, Republican Lieutenant Governor Jane Swift was expected to campaign for the governor's office, and she had said she would in October 2001.^[1] Swift had been serving as acting governor after Republican Governor Paul Cellucci resigned upon being appointed U.S. Ambassador to Canada.^[1] However, Swift was viewed as an unpopular executive, and her administration was plagued by political missteps and personal and ethical controversies.^[1][2][3] Many Republicans viewed her as a liability and considered her unable to win a general election against a Democrat.^[4]

Prominent GOP activists campaigned to persuade businessman Mitt Romney to run for governor,^[5] who was coming off his successful stint as head of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City^[1] and was also mentioned as a possible candidate for Governor of Utah.^[3] Romney had previously indicated in fall 2001 that he would not challenge a sitting Republican in running for the Massachusetts governorship, and thus was in a delicate position.^[1][3] Massachusetts Republican State Committee chair Kerry Healey had flown to Utah to personally assess Romney's intentions.^[3] On March 17, Romney flew into Massachusetts; a Boston Herald poll showed him defeating Swift by a 75 percent to 12 percent margin in a Republican primary.^[3][6] On March 19, 2002, Swift tearfully declared that she had decided not to seek her party's nomination, citing family reasons and also saying "I believe that this is in the best interest of our state, as it will allow the Republican Party's best chances of holding the governor's office in November."^[6] Three hours later Romney announced his candidacy.^[1] Romney was subsequently unopposed in the Republican party primary.^[7]

Massachusetts Democratic Party officials claimed that Romney was ineligible to run for governor, citing residency issues. The Massachusetts Constitution requires seven consecutive years of residency prior to a run for office. Romney claimed residency in Utah from 1999 to 2002, during his time as president of the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee. He had thus gotten a $54,000 property tax break there (which he now offered to pay back).^[1] In 1999 he listed himself as a part-time Massachusetts resident,^[8] and now said that he had planned to return to Massachusetts (where he had gone to business and law school and had spent his entire business career until taking over the Olympics) all along.^[1] The Massachusetts Democratic Party filed a complaint with the Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission, which eventually ruled that Romney was eligible to run for office, saying that "[Romney] never severed his ties to Massachusetts [and] his testimony was credible in all respects."^[3] The ruling was not challenged in court,^[9] and the whole matter engendered sympathy for Romney, who accused the Democrats of playing "ridiculous, dirty politics".^[3]

Polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Mitt Romney	Jane M. Swift
Boston Herald	March 17, 2002	77%	12%

Lieutenant Governor

Jim Rappaport, the Republican nominee for United States Senate in 1990 and a political adversary of Jane Swift, was the first Republican to declare his candidacy for Lieutenant Governor.^[10] Swift named Patrick Guerriero, her deputy chief of staff and an open homosexual, as her running mate.^[11] Guerriero was chosen by Swift after Suffolk County District Attorney Ralph C. Martin II,^[12] Registrar of Motor Vehicles Daniel Grabauskas,^[13] Essex County Sheriff Frank Cousins,^[12] and Massachusetts Turnpike Authority member Christy Mihos^[14] declined to run with Swift.

Kerry Healey, former Chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party was selected by Mitt Romney to be his running mate.^[15] Shortly after Romney's endorsement of Healey, Guerriero dropped out of the race and gave his support Healey.^[16] Rappaport remained in the race and lost to Healey in the Republican primary.

Former state representative Donna Cuomo was also briefly a Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor. She announced her candidacy on April 2, 2002^[17] and dropped out of the race the next day.^[18]

Primary results

Massachusetts Republican lieutenant gubernatorial primary, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Kerry Healey	159,667	62.76
	Republican	Jim Rappaport	88,061	34.62
	Write-in	All others	241	0.09

Democrats

Governor

There was a five-way battle for the Democratic nomination for governor, contested among Massachusetts State Treasurer Shannon O'Brien, President of the Massachusetts Senate Thomas Birmingham, former Democratic National Committee and AIPAC chair Steven Grossman, former United States Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, and former nominee for lieutenant governor Warren Tolman.

The leader in most of the polls conducted as O'Brien, who was a longtime insider with four generations of heritage in the Beacon Hill political establishment.^[1][3] However, she faced criticism for some of the losing investments she had made as state treasurer.^[1] Reich's candidacy attracted considerable media attention, especially due to the 1997 publication of his memoir of working for the Clinton administration, Locked in the Cabinet. Reich had received criticism for embellishing events with invented dialogue, and the book had so angered Bill Clinton that he endorsed Grossman instead.^[1] Of the Democrats running, all but Tolman opted out of Clean Elections funding.^[1]

In the September 17, 2002, primary, O'Brien won with 33 percent of the vote; Reich came in second with 25 percent, followed by 24 percent for Birmingham and 18 percent for Tolman (Grossman had dropped out before then).^[1]

Polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Shannon O'Brien	Tom Birmingham	Robert Reich	Warren Tolman
Boston Globe/WBZ-TV	September 13, 2002	31%	22%	22%	13%

Primary results

Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial primary, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Shannon O'Brien	243,039	32.52
	Democratic	Robert Reich	185,315	24.80
	Democratic	Tom Birmingham	179,703	24.05
	Democratic	Warren Tolman	132,157	17.69
	Democratic	Steve Grossman	5,976	0.80
	Write-in	All others	1,113	0.15

Lieutenant Governor

The Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor was a three-way battle between businessman Chris Gabrieli, state representative John P. Slattery, and former State Senator Lois Pines. Gabrieli was the running mate of Shannon O'Brien while Slattery and Pines were not affiliated with any candidate. Stephen Lynch was a candidate for Lieutenant Governor, but dropped out of the race when Congressman Joe Moakley announced he was not running for reelection and Lynch decided to run to succeed him.^[19]. State Senator Cheryl A. Jacques was also a candidate for Lieutenant Governor, but dropped out of the race to run in the special election in Massachusetts's 9th congressional district.^[20]

Primary results

Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial primary, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Chris Gabrieli	306,043	39.89
	Democratic	John P. Slattery	205,208	26.75
	Democratic	Lois Pines	150,313	19.59
	Write-in	All others	1,185	0.15

General election

O'Brien's campaign was hobbled by the short amount of time between the primary and general election, and by her having exhausted most of her funds by spending $4.5 million to win the nomination.^[1][3] She focused her attacks by portraying Romney as being out of place in Massachusetts.^[1] Romney had stumbled earlier in the year by not knowing that "MCAS" stood for the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System of school exams.^[1] Romney had tried to soften his image of being rich and privileged by working at various blue collar jobs such as riding a garbage truck, cleaning fish, and the like over the summer;^[1] O'Brien now said in response that "Massachusetts doesn't need a governor who thinks getting in touch with working people is a costume party."^[3] She said Romney was "trying to mask a very conservative set of belief systems"; while saying she would not critizice his membership in the LDS Church, she attacked his substantial donations to Brigham Young University, objecting to their bar on expressions of homosexuality.^[1] O'Brien came out in support of same-sex marriage.^[1] Romney declared support for faith-based initiatives.^[1]

Romney ran as a political outsider, just as he had in the 1994 U.S. Senate election, and as an agent of change, saying he would "clean up the mess on Beacon Hill."^[3] Supporters of Romney hailed his business record, especially his success with the 2002 Olympics, as that of one who would be able to bring a new era of efficiency into Massachusetts politics.^[7] Romney said he would cut $1 billion out the of $23 billion state budget by eliminating the usual suspects of waste, fraud, and mismanagement while still reducing taxes over a phased period.^[3] He also said he was generally against tax increases, but refused to rule out the possibility;^[1] he did attempt to paint O'Brien as a 'tax-and-spend liberal'.^[3] Romney contributed over $6 million to his own campaign during the election, a state record at the time.^[1][21] His campaign was the first to use microtargeting techniques, in which fine-grained groups of voters were reached with narrowly tailored messaging.^[22]

For a while Romney fell behind in the polls, but then surged back in front, helped by negative ads being put forth featuring a basset hound sleeping as bad men removed bags of money from the Massachusetts treasury.^[3] Debates held instanced O'Brien attacking Romney repeatedly; he ended up referring to her style as "unbecoming", which engendered criticism that he was insensitive to women.^[1]

Polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Republican		Democratic							Green-Rainbow	Libertarian	Independent
		Mitt Romney	Jane M. Swift	Shannon O'Brien	Robert Reich	Tom Birmingham	Steve Grossman	Warren Tolman	William Galvin	Marty Meehan	Jill Stein	Carla Howell	Barbara Johnson
Boston Herald	February 18, 2001	––	23%	––	––	––	––	––	37%	––	––	––	––
		––	25%	––	––	––	––	––	––	37%	––	––	––
		––	25%	––	––	37%	––	––	––	––	––	––	––
		––	25%	––	––	––	––	25%	––	––	––	––	––
		––	25%	––	––	––	26%	––	––	––	––	––	––
Boston Globe	January 27, 2002	––	21%	39%	––	––	––	––	––	––	––	––	––
		––	23%	––	––	35%	––	––	––	––	––	––	––
		––	23%	––	35%	––	––	––	––	––	––	––	––
		––	23%	––	––	––	––	––	33%	––	––	––	––
		––	25%	––	––	––	27%	––	––	––	––	––	––
		––	24%	––	––	––	––	28%	––	––	––	––	––
Boston Herald	February 27, 2002	38%	––	32%	––	––	––	––	––	––	––	––	––
		40%	––	––	31%	––	––	––	––	––	––	––	––
Boston Herald	September 20, 2002	42%	––	45%	––	––	––	––	––	––	––	––	––
Institute of Politics/NECN	October 2–3, 2002	40%	––	40%	––	––	––	––	––	––	––	––	––
RKM Research and Communications	October 4, 2002	42%	––	43%	––	––	––	––	––	––	––	––	––
Institute of Politics/NECN	October 24–27, 2002	39%	––	41%	––	––	––	––	––	––	5%	3%	3%
Boston Herald	October 29, 2002	38%	––	44%	––	––	––	––	––	––	––	––	––
Boston Globe/WBZ	November 1, 2002	40%	––	41%	––	––	––	––	––	––	––	––	––

Results

Results by city and town

Romney was elected Governor in November 2002 with 50 percent of the vote over O'Brien, who received 45 percent of the vote.^[23] Other candidates included Dr. Jill Stein (J), Carla Howell (L), and Barbara Johnson (I).

Romney's victory method was established by performing strongly with the (modest) Republican base vote in the state, capturing many independent voters in the belt between Route 128 and I-495, almost running even in smaller working-class cities, and holding down Democratic margins in large urban areas.^[1][3] The conclusion represented the fourth win in a row for Republicans in the state gubernatorial contest.^[7]

Kerry Healey was elected Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts. She defeated Chris Gabrieli, Tony Lorenzen, Rich Aucoin, and Joe Schebel.

Massachusetts gubernatorial election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Mitt Romney (Kerry Healey)	1,091,988	49.77	- 1.04
	Democratic	Shannon O'Brien (Chris Gabrieli)	985,981	44.94	- 2.44
	Green-Rainbow	Jill Stein (Tony Lorenzen)	76,530	3.49	+ 3.49
	Libertarian	Carla Howell (Rich Aucoin)	23,044	1.05	- 0.64
	Independent	Barbara C. Johnson (Joe Schebel)	15,335	0.70	+ 0.70
	Write-in	All others	1,301	0.06	-.05
Total votes			2,194,179	55.23%%	+ 4.04
		Blank	6,122
Turnout			2,220,301
Majority			106,007	4.83%
	Republican hold		Swing	+ 1.40

See also

• Massachusetts general election, 2002

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x} Barone, Michael; Cohen, Richard E. (2004) (paperback). The Almanac of American Politics 2004. Washington: National Journal Group. pp. 772–773. ISBN 0-89234-106-8. 
2. ^ Associated Press. "Massachusetts's first female governor takes office, under heavy statewide scrutiny" The Daily Texan, April 11, 2001. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o} Mooney, Brian (June 29, 2007). "The Making of Mitt Romney: Part 6: Taking office, remaining an outsider". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/specials/romney/articles/part6_main/?page=full. 
4. ^ Frank, Mitch."Jane Swift Takes One For the Team:The Massachusetts GOP took a risk by choosing Mitt Romney over the more progressive Swift. Will their decision come back to haunt them?" Time Magazine, March 21, 2002. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
5. ^ Berwick Jr., Bob and Roch, Lisa Riley. "Boston GOP beseeching Mitt: But hero of S.L. Games is coy about his future" Deseret News, February 22, 2002. Retrieved November 1, 2006.
6. ^ ^{a b} "Swift exits, Romney joins Mass. governor's race" , CNN, March 19, 2002. Retrieved October 30, 2006.
7. ^ ^{a b c} "Vote 2002: Massachusetts Governor's Race" PBS Online News Hour (No Date). Retrieved November 1, 2006.
8. ^ Mcelhenny, John (Associated Press)"Romney defends right to run for governor" Portsmouth Herald, Tuesday, June 18, 2002. Retrieved November 1, 2006.
9. ^ Belluck, Pam. "Massachusetts Ballot Panel Allows Race By Republican" The New York Times (Page A-17), June 26, 2002.
10. ^ Battenfeld, Joe (September 7, 2001). "Rappaport could torpedo Swift bid to control GOP". Boston Herald. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/bostonherald/access/79929508.html?dids=79929508:79929508&FMT=ABS&FMTS. Retrieved 18 March 2011. 
11. ^ Anderson, Lisa (February 12, 2002). "Massachusetts savors prospect of hot primary". Chicago Tribune. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/107015879.html?dids=107015879:107015879&FMT=ABS&FMTS. Retrieved 18 March 2011. 
12. ^ ^{a b} Silberman, Ellen J. (September 21, 2001). "Suffolk County DA opts our of chase for lieutenant gov". Boston Herald. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/bostonherald/access/81794257.html?dids=81794257:81794257&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT. Retrieved 18 March 2011. 
13. ^ Guarino, David R. (November 24, 2001). "Credit cut; Registry KOs popular charge card service". Boston Herald. 
14. ^ Holmes, Rick (January 9, 2002). "Turnpike hearings deserve open road". Boston Herald. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/bostonherald/access/98832198.html?dids=98832198:98832198&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT. Retrieved 18 March 2011. 
15. ^ "Romney taps Healey as his running mate". Worcester Telegram & Gazette. April 4, 2002. 
16. ^ Tutalo, Frank (April 4, 2002). "Healey's candidacy, Guerriero's withdrawal, shake up Lt. Governor's race". Harvard Hillside. 
17. ^ Frank Phillips; Stephanie Ebbert (April 3, 2002). "GOP'S No. 2 Race Takes a Twist". Boston Globe. 
18. ^ Fenn, Jennifer (April 4, 2002). "Some in GOP miffed at Mitt". The Sun. 
19. ^ Johnson, Glen (May 15, 2001). "Prospective Candidates Walk a Fine Line on Moakley Seat". Boston Globe. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/73018335.html?FMT=ABS. Retrieved 4 October 2011. 
20. ^ "The 9th: Are we there yet?". Boston Herald. July 7, 2001. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/bostonherald/access/75108651.html?dids=75108651:75108651&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT. Retrieved 18 March 2011. 
21. ^ "Gabrieli surpasses spending record" Brian C. Mooney Boston Globe; August 22, 2006. Retrieved November 20, 2006.
22. ^ Cillizza, Chris (July 5, 2007). "Romney's Data Cruncher". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/04/AR2007070401423.html. 
23. ^ "2002 Election Results, Governor" 'CNN.com. Retrieved November 1, 2006.

External links

• "Massachusetts 2002 Election Statewide Results" from Elections Division

Campaign sites

• Barbara Johnson campaign site
• Carla Howell campaign site (archive)