Patrick goes on high-tech offensive
In his most aggressive jab yet, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval L. Patrick sent an attack video by e-mail to thousands of supporters yesterday, charging that rival Christopher Gabrieli had sent a ``cynical message about our government" by setting a $15.36 million cap on his campaign spending, which would be a record in Massachusetts elections.
``It reinforces the idea that politics is all about money, and elections can be bought," Patrick said.
In what appears to be a first in Massachusetts, Patrick employed e-mail technology to spread a detailed, letter-like message with the emotional appeal of a television commercial, but at almost no cost.
The e-mail contained a link to a video in which Patrick speaks directly to supporters. The e-mail was designed to capitalize on outrage among some Patrick supporters about Gabrieli's spending. In his first 11 weeks on the campaign trail, Gabrieli sank more than $2.8 million of his own money into his race. The spending record in a Massachusetts primary is $4.7 million.
Last week, Patrick and Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly agreed to split $750,000 in public money; Gabrieli was the only candidate to decline use of the state's campaign finance system. Under the rules, that meant he had to set the spending limit for all three candidates. If Gabrieli had participated, all three candidates would have had to limit their spending to $1.5 million.
The video shows Patrick sitting in his campaign office alongside busy campaign volunteers. He is slumped forward slightly, speaking directly, sometimes emphatically, to the camera. At the end, he asks the viewer to join the campaign's first canvassing effort this Saturday.
``We picked up on how viscerally people are feeling and how angry they are about not only the limit itself, the $15.36 million, but also the way that the announcement was made last week, in this kind of humorous and glib manner," Richard Chacón, a spokesman for Patrick, said. `` . . So we thought it was important to address it."
Gabrieli, in an attempt at humor, said he chose the number $15.36 million because he received 15.36 percent of the vote at the Democratic State Convention earlier this month. He said he had no intention of spending that much money, but he wanted to show that he thought the requirement that he pick a number was ``arbitrary."
Dan Cence, a spokesman for the Gabrieli campaign, said yesterday that he had no comment on Patrick's e-mail.
Chacón said the video-e-mail format played to what the campaign sees as its greatest strengths: Patrick's eloquence, the campaign's network of thousands of motivated supporters, and its agility with new media.
The Patrick campaign has by far the most video content on its website, and it allows supporters to use a common voter database to help recruit others.
The e-mail may also be an attempt to blunt the fact that Patrick, a former corporate and civil rights lawyer, is also wealthy.
He earned $3.8 million last year, much of it from
Michael Cornfield , an adjunct professor of political management at George Washington University, said campaigns around the country are beginning to use e-mails with video links to get their message out. Audio and video, he said, allow candidates to convey passion much more convincingly than a text e-mail, he said.
With broadband technology increasingly common, such e-mails are expected to become common campaign features, he said.
One of the cardinal rules of politics is that candidates should keep their hands clean and let others do their attacking for them. But Cornfield said the old rules do not apply to a medium that combines the narrow audience of direct mail, the emotional appeal of television, and the feel of a conversation. ``We're in new territory," he said.
But some questioned how much voters cared about the issue of campaign spending. Gabrieli has tried to turn his riches into an advantage, at least among Democratic insiders, reminding them that Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, the Republican nominee, is personally wealthy and has said she plans to spend ``about $15 million" on the election.
Marc Landy , a political science professor at Boston College, pointed out that US Senator John F. Kerry had not been hurt by his refusal to accept spending limits in the 2004 Democratic presidential primary campaign. Most people, he said, are upset by skyrocketing spending but don't see any plausible way to overhaul the system.
``Gabrieli knows what he's doing," he said. ``His long suit is his money. It's a tolerable risk that people are going to be turned off."
In further evidence of how Gabrieli's entrance has shaken up the race, Reilly also sent out an e-mail yesterday urging supporters to help him compensate for Gabrieli's personal wealth and calling Gabrieli's $15.36 million limit ``an obscene amount of money by any standard."
Also yesterday, the Boston Teachers Union endorsed Patrick on a voice vote after its executive board agreed unanimously to back him. Richard Stutman , the union's president, said the early endorsement reflects the union's enthusiasm for Patrick.
``We felt he has a vision for what Commonwealth means," he said. ``Commonwealth is a place where we can nurture our young people and do the best we can for them. . . . He seems to be able to reach out among all groups and be a healer and a uniter." 