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Patrick on fund-raising: 'This campaign is not about money'

E-mail|Link|Comments () January 6, 2010 10:49 AM

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick dismissed criticism today that GOP gubernatorial candidate Charles D. Baker was "crushing" him in fund-raising after his rival amassed $1.85 million in just five months.

Governor Deval Patrick

"This campaign is not about money," Patrick said this morning on the radio when asked about Baker's fund-raising haul, reported in today's Globe. "If it is about money, then we are just going to go back to same old, same old on Beacon Hill."

But the Democrat added, "We'll raise the resources we'll need."

Patrick made the comments during his monthly "Ask the Governor" appearance on WTKK radio's Jim & Margery show. He acknowledged that he is a reluctant fund-raiser and campaigner, pulling in $1.3 million in 2009 and just $685,000 in 2008. He has $667,000 in his campaign account.

On the radio today, Patrick told a familiar anecdote, recounting a conversation he had last October when President Obama headlined a fund-raiser for the governor. Patrick told Obama, "I just hate the fund-raising, and I hate the bragging. He said to me, 'Get over it.'"

When asked about his negative approval ratings in public opinion polls, Patrick said, "Polls come and go."

He also noted that the economy is not rebounding as quickly as it crashed and that his team has made hard decisions that had been put off for years by previous administrations.

"Change always -- always -- evokes resistance," Patrick said. "In the place that is sometimes described as the capital of the status quo, you had better believe that it has provoked resistance."