A church basement in Amherst. Deval Patrick was in town to talk to anyone who would listen. I was one. I had a chance to chat. He was a pretty implausible candidate. He was an African American in a state with a miserable record of electing African Americans.
He was little. If he was bigger than me, it wasn’t by much and I’m 5’4. Politicians who get elected are usually bigger than that. Deval did the improbable. He was elected governor. Now he wants to do the impossible.
Deval has entered the race for the president just a few months before the Iowa caucus. If he has a machine, few people are aware of it. If he has unusual resources, a big backer, he hasn’t spoken about it. If he has a chance to win, he isn’t saying. He says he has something to offer.
Maybe he does. Democrats have been worrying they don’t really have a strong candidate. Castro, Harris, and Booker. None have caught fire. Amy Klobuchar. She never fully recovered from her bad start, criticisms of how she treated staff.
Mayor Pete? There are people who believe that the United States will not elect a 38 year old gay Mayor of a city of 100,000 as President. Bernie? Other people believe the United States will not elect a New York Jewish socialist transplanted to Vermont.
Joe Biden? You wish he would be careful about his answers to questions. Sometimes he sounds confused – a bad look for a man in his 70s. My favorite, Elizabeth Warren has gotten herself tied up in a Medicare for All knot. That’s what comes of raising your hand when you are asked a question.
Deval. FOB. Friend of Barack. African American. His administration in Massachusetts was solid. Not spectacular. A glitch or two. He’ll tout fixing the Affordable Care Act and adding a public option – the most popular solution to our health care problems at the moment.
Will anyone hear him? Will anyone care? Let’s change his rating from impossible to improbable; the same rating he had when he was speaking in a church basement in Amherst.