Late in game, Gabrieli makes entrance in corner office race

Correction: Because of a reporting error, a story in yesterday's City & Region section on gubernatorial candidate Christopher Gabrieli incorrectly said Gabrieli founded Bessemer Venture Partners. The firm's origins date back to 1911.

Christopher Gabrieli, the wealthy entrepreneur and public policy enthusiast, made his last-minute decision to run for governor official yesterday, saying that his achievements in business and government show that he can deliver ''real results" in education, job creation, and economic development.

Signs of Gabrieli's 11th-hour rush into the race were everywhere: Crisp new maps of Massachusetts adorned the walls of his new Canal Street headquarters; volunteers were still scrawling signs with felt markers when reporters began arriving.

Towering over his wife, mother, and son, the 6-foot-4-inch candidate thanked the volunteers who had scrambled to gather 500 signatures of Democratic Convention delegates to secure him a place on the convention's June ballot.

''In this campaign, I'm going to travel all over the state, pounding the pavement, doing whatever it takes to talk directly to people and win this race," he said. ''I believe if I do my part and you do your part, then come November, we'll have a great victory for Massachusetts."

In his 10-minute speech, Gabrieli, 46, skipped straight over the Democratic primary to the general election. While Republican governors have made promises for 16 years, he said, he has delivered. As a venture capitalist, he said, he'd ''helped create 100,000 new, good jobs" by investing in fledgling companies. As the founder of the nonprofit Massachusetts 2020 Foundation, he had helped bring school programs to thousands of children across Massachusetts.

''At the end of the day, that's what we want from our governor -- real results that help people," he said.

But Gabrieli first has to get his name on the primary ballot, which means he needs 15 percent of convention delegates to back him in June. His opponents, Deval Patrick and Thomas F. Reilly, have been campaigning for more than a year, and some political specialists say the 15-percent threshhold will be a substantial challenge for Gabrieli.

In an interview after his speech, Gabrieli insisted that the 500 signatures he already gathered proved that he has the momentum to clear the next hurdle.

''They're not quite 15 percent, but they represent more than 10 percent of the delegates to that convention," he said. ''Why speculate what people think? There's the numbers."

In January, after talks with Gabrieli about running as a team, Reilly chose Representative Marie St. Fleur as his running mate. (St. Fleur withdrew after the Globe reported that she was delinquent on her taxes.) But Gabrieli insisted that his decision to run for governor was motivated by the calls he had received from Democrats who wanted a candidate who ''could not only win in the primary but win in the general."

One supporter, Eric Pope, 25, a school committee member from New Bedford who drove up early yesterday for the announcement, said he intended to volunteer for Gabrieli's campaign. He said Massachusetts 2020 had helped New Bedford improve its after-school offerings at a time when no help came from the state.

Gabrieli declined to say how much of his own money he would put into the race. He has already hired a team of experienced political consultants, including the campaign manager of the 2004 presidential campaign of then-US Senator John Edwards and the communications director of Tim Kaine's winning race for governor of Virginia last year.

After spending more than $5 million, Gabrieli lost a 10-candidate Democratic primary for the Eighth Congressional District seat in 1998. He spent $7 million in his race for lieutenant governor in 2002. (One plus, he noted yesterday: He is the only Democrat who has debated this year's presumed Republican nominee: ''I think I've learned a thing or two going toe-to-toe with Kerry Healey," he said.)

Gabrieli grew up in Buffalo, the son of Hungarian immigrants. He dropped out of medical school to help turn around his physician father's struggling medical software business. Mission accomplished, he founded Bessemer Venture Partners, a venture capital firm.

But for the last 10 years, Gabrieli said, he has devoted most of his energy to public life. For the last six years, he has worked full time at Massachsuetts 2020, which has raised $26 million to help fund after-school programs across the state, according to the organization's website.

Though public education is his greatest passion -- he has also pushed for longer school days and the MCAS -- the Beacon Hill resident sends his five children, ages 5 to 12, to private school. ''I want the best for my kids and I want to make sure everyone gets the best for their kids," he said, when asked to square his passionate advocacy of public education with that decision yesterday.

Asked whether she thought her son could become governor despite his late entry to the race, Lilla Gabrieli, 79, smiled. When he was 6 years old, she said, he signed up for a long ''Walk For Hunger" with his big brother. By the end, he was so exhausted he was crawling. ''Blood on his hands, blood on his knees, but he did it," she said. ''So he won't give up, I'll tell you that."