More on Mitt Romney and historic events

When Mitt Romney 60% of the voters in  New Hampshire's primary didn't vote for Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor declared, “Tonight we made history.” History, in this context, was manufactured because political wonks discovered that Romney is the first Republican non-incumbent presidential candidate to win nominating contests in both Iowa and New Hampshire.

No, my friends,  last Tuesday's "historic" moment is as historic as Al Bundy's four touchdowns in a high school football game. It's the worst kind of political geekery that passes for analysis, made even worse when raised up by a candidate on a national stage.

No, my friends, history was made with:

• the march on Selma to Montgomery in 1965


• the march on Washington in 1963


• the march on the Pentagon in 1968


• Juneteenth in 1865


• Nelson Mandela's walk from prison in 1990


• the ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791


• the election of a black president in 2008

This history-is-waiting tidbit started showing up a couple of months ago. I haven't verified that Jim Geraghty's column in NRO, War-Gaming the GOP Early Contests, Six Weeks Out, is the very first mention, but it's among the earliest. The factoid gained momentum after Mitt's presumed eight-vote triumph in Iowa. It was held high by the candidate, much as a fifth-grader would raise a blue ribbon for the best bug collection.

All around the world, people are fighting and dying for the right to have a government of their choosing. Should we warn them that it's is what their future could be?

We, for varying values of we, are idiots.^™

More on education and politics

[caption id="attachment_2836" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Tim Connolly and Rep. Jim McGovern"][/caption]

The other day, Rep. Jim McGovern spoke at our WISE politics and media class. Tim Connolly, communications director for Worcester County D.A. Joseph Early, Jr., is leading the class. McGovern took questions for the full 90 minutes. As you might expect, topics ranged widely from Worcester politics to the pile of rubble that is the Washington political process. "If you wanted to chose any time in history to be president," said McGovern, "this is not the time you would choose." (Ref The Onion's on-point headline in November 2008, Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job .)

We talked redistricting. More than half of his district is new to him, now anchored to the west by Amherst and Northampton. (I corrected him on the pronunciation of Amherst, with a silent h. The townspeople notice such things.) The discussion about education included the usual topics of improving STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) as we try to prepare young people for jobs in the emerging green economy and medical technology.

In a bit of topic drift, we noted that a 20% turnout, coupled with Joe Perry's 48% plurality, means than fewer than 10% of Worcester voters chose their new mayor. "We are ultimately responsible for whom we elect," noted McGovern. By comparison, 40% of Fitchburg electorate voted. They re-elected Lisa Wong as mayor.

In addition to the usual concerns about civic detachment, the class agreed that civics should also be included in any education reform.

I know that it's comparing apples and dump trucks to relate my personal educational experiences with the practices and people of these times. There are a few dynamics about growing up, however, that are somewhat enduring. So, here are a couple of points:

• I loved history, social studies, and political science. I even got an award as best social studies student in my graduating class. My first college course, taken when I was 16, was political science. I grew up in a household where both parents voted regularly, where my mother campaigned for Ed Brooke as senator.
  I didn't vote until I was 30.


• There were several classes - Shakespeare in freshman English, shop, and gym, notably - that caused me not only not to learn the subjects but also to hate them later in life. Part of it was bad teaching, more of it was due to an inept student forced to display his ineptitude for the world to see.

These are notes of caution about what we can expect from education of any type, be it our public schools or even a parent to a child. We can give skills and knowledge, knowing that some of that will land on fertile ground and some will land on the rocks. The skill of the teacher and the aptitude of the student are the major factors here.

Much, much harder, though, it teaching people how to care when they don't. Even if we can identify root causes and remove those impediments, our successes are less than hoped for. It's pretty easy for people who are passionate about a topic to share why they're excited. The stories that are most interesting and, I think, most instructive, are the ones where someone once didn't care and now does. What happened? Is there anything transferable from those life lessons?

I voted for the first time because I was friends with people who were active in politics and who voted. The friendship preceded the act of voting. (This, by the way, is why social networks can be so compelling.) It's not about trust in the political arena or in the classroom, perhaps, but in the coffee shops and living rooms and other social places, where change happens. I voted not because I trusted the politicians so much as I trusted my friends.

We voted. You decide.

The take-away message for this election is that Massachusetts brought itself back to familiar footing after the brief flirtation with the national trends in January. Democrats, shaken by Senator Scott Brown's election, realized that they had to work for their (re-)elections. In doing so, they found that voters responded.
Locally, Kim Ferguson (R-Holden) defeated Ken O'Brien (D-Holden) and Jon Long (U-Holden) for the 1st Worcester state representative's post, replacing Lew Evangelidis (R-Holden), who, at this writing, is likely to be the next Worcester County sheriff. Ferguson won the solid;ly Republican district with nearly 58% of the vote, fractionally better than the last time that Evangelidis faced a serious challenge in 2002. While Democrats outnumber Republicans in the district (see 2010 State Election Party Enrollment Statistics (PDF, 52k)) unenrolled voters outnumber those with party affiliations and the district has tended to support Republicans for quite some time. 
At the national level, well, good luck to all of us. The Republicans now control the House, much as the Democrats had a majority in 2006. Four years ago, the Democrats were unable to change much of anything because, as almost-Speaker John Beohner (R-Ohio) says, "While our new majority will serve as your voice in the people's House, we must remember it is the president who sets the agenda for our government."
We elected these folks, whether we voted for them or not, and so need their best work on behalf of all of us.

We voted. You decide.

The take-away message for this election is that Massachusetts brought itself back to familiar footing after the brief flirtation with the national trends in January. Democrats, shaken by Senator Scott Brown's election, realized that they had to work for their (re-)elections. In doing so, they found that voters responded.
Locally, Kim Ferguson (R-Holden) defeated Ken O'Brien (D-Holden) and Jon Long (U-Holden) for the 1st Worcester state representative's post, replacing Lew Evangelidis (R-Holden), who, at this writing, is likely to be the next Worcester County sheriff. Ferguson won the solid;ly Republican district with nearly 58% of the vote, fractionally better than the last time that Evangelidis faced a serious challenge in 2002. While Democrats outnumber Republicans in the district (see 2010 State Election Party Enrollment Statistics (PDF, 52k)) unenrolled voters outnumber those with party affiliations and the district has tended to support Republicans for quite some time. 
At the national level, well, good luck to all of us. The Republicans now control the House, much as the Democrats had a majority in 2006. Four years ago, the Democrats were unable to change much of anything because, as almost-Speaker John Beohner (R-Ohio) says, "While our new majority will serve as your voice in the people's House, we must remember it is the president who sets the agenda for our government."
We elected these folks, whether we voted for them or not, and so need their best work on behalf of all of us.

Election Night Results

Pioneering election coverage from 40 years ago.

1st Congressional District Debate

It was clear from the outset that it was going to be a wild night. You make the turn in to the driveway to Mount Wachusett Community College and are immediately flanked by two or three dozen Bill Gunn supporters. They've got signs. They're loud. They've got t-shirts.
The debate for the First Massachusetts district was sponsored by the college's Center for Democracy and Humanity. The moderator was MWCC Prof. Jim Korman, chairman of the MWCC Paralegal Studies department. Students from the Paralegal Studies program were time-keepers. The debate would be shown on local cable. The panelists who asked questions of the candidates were from the local newspapers - Joseph Benavidez of the MWCC student newspaper, the Mount Observer, Andres Caamano, senior news editor of the Gardner News, and Marisa Donelan, city editor of the Sentinel-Enterprise.
In the commons area in the center of the college, nearly 100 chairs werfe set out. By the time the debate started, they need more chairs in the back. Even then, there were folks standing. Did I mention that they have t-shirts?
It was going to be a wild night.
Except that it wasn't.
The audience, with just a couple of exceptions, listened intently and articulated their opinions with facial expressions only.
There are three seeking the congressional office - incumbent Democrat John Olver, Republican Bill Gunn, Jr. and Independent Michael Engel.
The topics were familiar, but presented as thoughtful questions that invited thoughtful answers. As the candidates outlined their views on Social Security, spending and deficit, immigration (legal and illegal), Don't Ask-Don't Tell, the stimulus plans, housing, and transportation. Olver not only defended, but even promoted his liberal actions and his support of the president. Gunn would jettison the Education Department, replace the income tax with a national sales tax, and urgently pared down the size and scope of government. Engel proferred nuanced solutions. He, for example, would support raising the retirement age, but only if we address the issue of age discrimination in the workplace. His approach to tax reform and simplification would ensure that corporations and the very rich would have fewer ways to avoid paying taxes on their considerable income.
By this late in the election season, the three candidates had their stories well-honed, except when they didn't. Olver stumbled badly on many answers and ran over his alloted time without finishing his answers. He had a lengthy and somewhat embarrassing 15-second pause while he tried to think of a description something that the Republicans wanted to do with Social Security. It's called privatization, which he finally remembered. Gunn put Wal-Mart in Hubbardston, rather than in Gardner.
At the end of the night, the winner was Engel on points. He commanded his ideas and facts well and made us want to listen. Gunn started out as the most collegial, but tended to get louder when straying from substance and into platitudes. His remarks regarding immigrants, illegal and otherwise, and those who were losing their homes in the mortgage meltdown, were mean-spirited. Finally, it was just not John Olver's night as all. He was generally inarticulate, except when detailing the funding that he brought to the district. We should probably be grateful for his work, but that doesn't mean that we're proud of it.
After the debate, Gunn supporters talked enthusiastically among themselves about where they would be in the coming days. The few Olver supporters sought out each other and quietly chatted. If Engel had supporters there, we couldn't tell. There were no signs for him, no t-shirts. Just some folks mulling over his ideas.

Ken O'brien's response

In a Holden blog post earlier this week, Your next representative in the Worcester 1st, I asked each of three candidates to offer their thoughts on why one of the other candidates might win the election. Here is Democratic candidate Ken O'Brien's response, sent to me in an email:
Ken O'Brien's response

Jon Long's response

In a Holden blog post earlier this week, Your next representative in the Worcester 1st, I asked each of three candidates to offer their thoughts on why one of the other candidates might win the election. Here is independent candidate Jon Long's response, sent to me in an email:
Jon Long's response