In Weld's footsteps

KERRY HEALEY made her gubernatorial candidacy official this week, serving notice that she plans to run in the moderate tradition of Bill Weld and not in the increasingly conservative wake of Mitt Romney.

Addressing supporters on Wednesday, the lieutenant governor made no mention of social issues. Instead, she underscored themes that have long proved their worth for Massachusetts Republicans: fiscal discipline, an income tax cut, the state's economic climate, and the need to counterbalance Beacon Hill's Democratic majority.

When I noted in a Thursday interview that she seemed to be taking her cue from Weld and not Romney, Healey acknowledged as much in an answer that didn't even mention the man who made her his running mate in 2002.

''I have always admired Bill Weld, and I have always thought that his vision was right and that his effort to be a fiscal conservative and a social moderate was in tune with the needs and inclinations of the people of Massachusetts," she said.

In her announcement speech, Healey called for giving more state tax revenues to cities and towns, for more school aid, and for healthcare reform. She said children should start school at an earlier age and stressed the need for a longer school day.

''We must reduce the cost of public higher education for middle-class families," she added.

Later that same afternoon, the Legislature's Joint Committee on Public Higher Education reported out a bill to address the quality and cost of higher education in Massachusetts.

The product of a task force led by Senators Steven Panagiotakos and Stanley Rosenberg, it would phase in a $400 million increase in higher education funding over seven years.

I asked Rosenberg, a former Senate Ways and Means chairman, whether such a plan would be affordable if the state income tax is cut to 5 percent as Healey favors, a move that would reduce annual revenues by more than $600 million. ''You can't reduce the income tax and fund the needs in healthcare, local aid, and higher education," he replied.

His view is shared by Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

''You can't expand spending in all those areas and still roll back the income tax," Widmer said.

Yesterday, Healey insisted state revenues are strong enough both to cut taxes and pursue her priorities and promised that as the campaign progresses, she will attach figures to her plans.

To be fiscally credible, she'll need to. Although governing is about making hard choices, campaigning is just as often an attempt to avoid them. And on Wednesday, the rhetorical choice Healey made was to have a tax cut and spend it, too.

For now, the Republican front-runner faces an interesting challenge in the person of Christy Mihos, the convenience-store-magnate-cum-gubernatorial-hopeful. Mihos is currently running as a Republican, though he says he may launch an independent campaign if he concludes he might not secure a spot on the GOP primary ballot.

On Wednesday, Mihos said that Chris Egan, a member of Healey's finance team, visited him recently to ask him to run on Healey's ticket. Egan also warned that Healey would spend as much as $17 million to beat him, says Mihos.

''They aren't going to . . . stare me down," vowed Mihos, who says he's prepared to spend $8 million of his own. Egan told me he spoke as a concerned Republican, not a Healey operative, that he was only speculating about the likely cost of the campaign, and that he simply said that he thought Healey and Mihos would make a fine team. Healey insisted yesterday that Egan wasn't acting as her emissary.

The Healey campaign, hoping to avoid a three-way fight in November, has said it will guarantee Mihos enough delegates at the party's April convention to ensure him a spot on the primary ballot.

But Mihos scoffed at that offer.

''I am looking to earn my way onto the ballot," he said. ''I am not looking for political welfare."

All in all, Mihos sounds like someone searching for a reason to launch an independent quest -- a quest that, if he gets 10,000 signatures by Aug. 1, would put him on the general election ballot.

GOP prospects have gone up recently as the Democrats have faced controversy.

But if Mihos runs as an independent, the odds change dramatically. It's hard to see how the GOP could win in November with Mihos and Healey battling for the same basic vote.

Scot Lehigh's e-mail address is lehigh@globe.com.