Romney and Clinton win Mass. primary

By Frank Phillips and Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Mitt Romney held onto his Republican base to handily beat John McCain today, while Hillary Clinton withstood a string of high-profile endorsements for Barack Obama to glide to a surprisingly decisive victory, in the most competitive and meaningful Massachusetts presidential primary in memory.

Clinton surged to a lead with the earliest returns tonight, then never gave it up -- in sharp contrast to the public surveys which had shown Obama closing in over the final week.

Obama -- who had the support of Governor Deval Patrick and Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry -- carried the city of Boston by a small margin of under 10,000 votes, as Mayor Thomas M. Menino's political machine kept Clinton close. Obama also ran strong in the liberal, affluent suburbs.

Clinton ran up large margins in urban areas such as Quincy, Worcester, Fall River, and New Bedford.

"The people have spoken," Menino said last night, speaking from Boston City Hall. "The women, the students, the ones who work for living, want a candidate with knowledge and depth to deal with the issues that the working people face every day."

Romney, proving to some skeptics that he has strong support among local Republicans, far outpaced McCain, who had taunted the former Massachusetts governor by making an unusual foray into his home state just a day before the primary voting. Partial returns from around the state showed that Romney was holding a comfortable lead over the Arizona Senator.

Romney's victory is particularly significant for the one-term governor who had to inject resources to make sure he held his home state. Much of the Republican establishment, including two of three former GOP governors, had endorsed other candidates. But House Minority Leader Brad Jones of North Reading said the Republican establishment was out of touch with average GOP voters.

"It was a big win," Jones said. "There were some polls that thought it would be very close, and he put that myth to rest. People knew him, people appreciated him."

Because state officials moved the Massachusetts presidential primary to today, Bay State voters were given a rare opportunity to play a key role in choosing each of the party nominees. Massachusetts has traditionally voted in March, often after the candidates have clinched the nominations in earlier primaries.

As a result, three of the major candidates - Obama, Clinton, and McCain - personally campaigned in the state that had become a significant player, for both Republicans and Democrats, in the Super Tuesday presidential primary battles. The only other similarly competitive primary in recent history came in the Democratic presidential race in 1976.

Random interviews with voters in Boston indicated that Obama was getting support from those who were upset with Clinton's initial support for the Iraq war. "She did vote for the war to begin with," said Nate Jordan, a 26-year-old electrician from Hyde Park. "Barack, from the jump, was against it. So was I."

Other Obama supporters said that they did not want to extend the Clinton hold on the White House.

"I like the idea of change," said Pamela Bush, a 48-year-old community organizer from Hyde Park. "We've already had a Clinton in the White House. We’ve had [20] years of the same families. We need some new blood."

"We need a change," said Nicolas Laurent, an electrician from Hyde Park. "We need new ideas, new leadership."

One Clinton voter said the New Yorker senator's gender was an issue for her. "It's always been mostly men," said Grace Giannangelo, a 69-year-old supermarket worker from Hyde Park. "It would be quite a change, really."

Clinton, who was endorsed by Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, also heavily relied on Menino's urban political organization. In addition, Murray and DiMasi called on their legislative colleagues to bring out the vote for Clinton. The mayor had 800 people working for Clinton yesterday, including 80 drivers who transported elderly voters to the polls.

The state's Democratic presidential primary developed into a competitive race only in the last few weeks after both Clinton and Obama split several of the early contests. Polls initially had suggested that Clinton had a substantial lead but that margin had narrowed significantly, particularly after the highly publicized endorsement of Obama last week by Kennedy and his niece, Caroline Kennedy. Obama raised $3.8 million in Massachusetts, about $1 million more than Clinton.

Under Democratic Party rules, about half of the 121 delegates are assigned to candidates based on the outcome in each of the 10 congressional districts. Another 32 are also assigned based on the state wide vote tally. The rest are filled by party and elected officials.

Romney, who barnstormed across the country after losing a tight race to McCain in last week's Florida primary, did not appear in his home state until he flew into Massachusetts yesterday afternoon. He and his wife, Ann, voted at town hall in Belmont. Before a rally last night at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, the couple planned to return for their first full day home since Christmas.

"It's nice to get back and to scare the rodents out, and -- not exactly -- and open the mail," Mitt Romney said. "We have a lot of mail. And you know, a hot bath, what do you think Ann?"

"Sounds good," Ann Romney said.

Romney, in his four years as governor, had alienated some in the party leadership and he failed to build a solid GOP alliance. His shift from a moderate Republican governor to a presidential candidate who reshaped his image and positions to appeal to the party's conservative voters in the so-called red states also hurt him in Massachusetts.

In fact, McCain, in a bold but apparently fruitless strategy aimed at exploiting Romney's problems with local Republicans, spent Sunday night in Boston where he held a rally at a downtown bar before the Superbowl. He then appeared at a campaign event at Faneuil Hall Monday morning.

• Comment
• Permalink
• Email