A place for Reagan Democrats to call home
RAY FLYNN keeps his finger on the public pulse the old-fashioned way. The South Boston native walks and talks his way around Castle Island, just as he did when he was mayor -- only now Flynn does it with grandchildren.
On the basis of this daily political field work, Flynn has this advice for Deval Patrick: ``Move to the middle and stay away from liberal politicians."
The neighbors along Flynn's route grew up voting for Democrats until they came to view them as representatives of the party of tax, spend, and waste. At that point, they sent Republican Ronald Reagan to the White House. Later, they sent a string of Republicans, from Bill Weld to Mitt Romney, to the governor's office.
To win in November, Patrick ``has to bring the Reagan Democrats back home," said Flynn.
Making the Patrick tent roomy enough for Reagan Democrats won't be easy. One big obstacle may be those Democrats who helped sweep Patrick to victory on primary day. A new survey puts Patrick far ahead of Republican Kerry Healey. So liberals feel confident, and the first post-primary polls boost their cockiness.
Consider what happened after state Representative Eugene O'Flaherty of Chelsea attended a bill signing last week presided over by Healey. Pressed by reporters afterward, the conservative Democrat -- who backed Attorney General Tom Reilly in the primary -- said Patrick ``has to get rid of the notion that has been percolating around out there that he is a liberal left-leaning individual that will bring Massachusetts back to what some have referred to as the `Mike Dukakis era.' " The next day, O'Flaherty's voicemail and e-mail burst with unpleasant messages from Democrats accusing him of disloyalty and worse.
Liberals don't want to hear it, but they alone can't win the gubernatorial race for Patrick. Healey is counting on conservatives and independents to break yet again for the Republican candidate with a simple no-tax message and basic promise of fiscal restraint. ``Deval Patrick and I are on opposite sides of the tax issue," said Healey. ``It's pretty simple, I want to cut taxes, Deval doesn't. I took the `no new taxes' pledge, Deval didn't. I will control spending, Deval won't."
Still, Flynn said a Patrick victory is possible, because voters he knows are ambivalent about voting Republican. They do it, said Flynn, because ``That's all they've got." They still worry about a ``one party state," said Flynn. But, he said, they are looking for reasons to vote for someone, not against someone, and that gives Patrick an opening.
``There is a level of independence, believability, respectability," said Flynn about Patrick. ``Now he has to make people feel comfortable he's not extreme, that he will represent everyone's interest."
To that end, Flynn warned that if Patrick surrounds himself with politicians associated purely with liberalism, the picture alone will undercut his ability to connect with a constituency he needs for victory.
In short, if Democrats really want to win in November, they better understand the political symbolism permeating the death of former Massachusetts governor Edward J. King. In 1978, King upset incumbent Governor Michael Dukakis, by promising to cut taxes and crime. In essence, King was a Reagan Democrat before Reagan ran for president and won, with support from Reagan Democrats.
To put it another way, can Patrick win the Ed King vote?
``I did," said Dukakis, a reminder that while he lost to King in 1978, he beat him four years later . Dukakis said he succeeded by knocking on doors and convincing voters, one by one, that King's simple solutions didn't address the Commonwealth's more complex needs.
It's good advice and Patrick should follow it. But it also renews the debate over whether liberals like Dukakis who support Patrick and very much want him to win should stay in the background, if that's what it takes to achieve victory in November.
That requires restraint and pragmatism from supporters who have every right to claim Patrick's primary victory as their own. It remains to be seen if those supporters are now willing to make the general election campaign about Patrick, rather than about themselves and liberal ideology.
Patrick is a likeable candidate who will need as broad a base as possible to beat Healey. Castle Island might be a good place to start reaching out. Reagan, after all, went to the Eire Pub.
Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com. 
