WGBH Radio; The Callie Crossley Show

I'm Cally Crossley This is the Cali Crossley Show. Ten more states have spoken from Vermont to Virginia. Super Tuesday served up six states for Mitt Romney but his narrow win in Ohio was uncomfortably close. His campaign says a win is a win but this tight victory may be Romney's road to the White House. Will be studded with speed bumps voter turnout was extremely low. Is this a referendum on government. Or a lack of enthusiasm among Republicans for their crop of candidates. One thing is for certain it's the economy stupid. Exit polls show that it's the number one concern among voters. Speaking of polls Scott Brown has a small lead on Elizabeth Warren. Is this much ado about nothing or a wake up call to Dems that Massachusetts could be a redder shade of move from town to the Beltway. We'll talk through it all. Up next politics as usual. First the news. From NPR News in Washington I'm Louise Schiavone. Mitt Romney took six

states on Super Tuesday including the hardest fought prize of the night. Ohio our campaign is on the move and real change is finally on the way. To figure Romney's heels in Ohio Rick Santorum. This was a big night tonight lots of states. We're going to win a few. We're going to lose a few. But as it looks right now. We're going to get at least a couple of gold medals. And a whole passel full of silver medals. Here is Ari Shapiro reports that for Mitt Romney Ohio had a symbolic importance even though it was not the biggest state in Tuesday's vote. Mitt Romney's failure to pull off a decisive Ohio victory revives long standing questions about his ability to unify conservative voters. Ohio is also an important general election swing state. That's one reason Romney vastly outspent his rivals there. Yet Rick Santorum continues to remain a persistent threat to Romney. Santorum snagged the Tennessee Oklahoma and North Dakota. Romney won Massachusetts and Vermont

as well as Virginia and Idaho. One state where a loss is good news for Romney is Georgia. Newt Gingrich won there. That gives Gingrich a reason to stay in the race. Good news for Romney since Gingrich could siphon off conservative votes from Santorum in the contests ahead. Ari Shapiro NPR News Boston. President Obama is at the Dai Miller truck plant in Mount Holly North Carolina this afternoon. He's talking about the importance of developing more affordable fuel efficient cars Mount Holly is near Charlotte site of the Democratic National Convention this summer. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the U.S. will not rush into military action in Syria despite calls by some lawmakers for airstrikes to help protect the Syrian people from further attacks and Craig Windham reports Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Republican Senator John McCain challenged Panetta to do more to halt the bloodshed in Syria. Americans should lead in this. We're not leading Mr. Secretary. But Panetta

said the administration is leading as it did in Libya by working to build international support for any action in Syria. Panetta says that will take time. But when we do it we'll do it right. We will not do it in a way that will make the situation worse. Aneta added that what he called the terrible situation in Syria has no simple answers. Craig Windham NPR News Washington. At the top of the latest Forbes magazine's billionaires list Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim telecommunications magnate worth sixty nine billion dollars. Number two on the Forbes list investment guru Warren Buffett. At 44 billion on Wall Street at this hour the Dow is up 68. The Nasdaq up 25. This is NPR News. And from the WGBH radio newsroom in Boston I'm Christina Cohen with the local stories we're following. Mitt Romney's presidential campaign says he raised eleven point five million dollars in February. The campaign announced the fund raising total today at Romney's Boston headquarters.

Officials say it was the second best month ever for the campaign. Still the hall isn't substantially more than rival Rick Santorum whose campaign says he raised more than 9 million dollars last month. The state stands to lose more than 300 jobs at U.S. Air Force facilities under cuts announced by the Pentagon. The cuts include more than 150 jobs at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod is in line to lose about 170 jobs. The New Hampshire State House could take up a bill today allowing employers with religious objections to exclude contraceptive coverage from their health plans. Republican House speaker William O'Brien calls it a matter of religious freedom. Opponents argue employers don't have to buy insurance. Fenway Park has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. Secretary of State William Galvin said in a statement today that listing Fenway Park in the National Register will help preserve it for future generations to enjoy. The Boston Globe reports that the listing of the park on the National Register means that Fenway Park has added protections and that any changes there are subject to review by the commission. In sports the

Boston Celtics take on the Philadelphia 76 years tonight in philly. And right now it's 60 degrees in Boston with partly cloudy conditions and the sunny and breezy conditions are expected to continue for the rest of the afternoon with temperatures in between the mid 50s to low 60s southwest winds with gusts reaching up to 25 miles per hour though and tonight mostly clear in the evening then becoming partly cloudy not as cool with lows in the lower 40s. Thursday mostly sunny and breezy highs in the lower 60s. Right now it's 60 degrees in Boston 58 Wister and 57 in Providence. Support for NPR comes from the mosaic foundation of Rita and Peter Hayden based in Ann Arbor honoring the passion of NPR journalists all around the world whose stories take us there every day. The time is 1 0 6. Good afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley. We're talking politics this hour. Joining me to talk through yesterday's GOP primaries are Kelly Bates Kevin Pietersen and Marvin Benet. Kelly Bates is the executive director of the access strategies fund. Kevin Pietersen is

founder of the New Democracy coalition which is based at the college for public and community service at UMass Boston. And Marvin Benet is the executive director of the Massachusetts black and Latino Democratic Legislative Caucus. Welcome back everybody. Good to be here. Well let's get your initial takes on what appears to be kind of a Romney sweep. You know OK there were some states that he didn't take but pretty much it was his night though Santorum has reason to be still standing I think. And it was a very very very close in Ohio. Kelly Yeah this was a good night for Mitt Romney Ohio is a swing state. It's a very important bellwether state in politics and you know he came out on top even if you know Santorum did fairly well. It still solidifies Mitt Romney's presence and power as I think again continuing to be the front runner in this race. We're halfway through the primaries and so he's he's collecting a lot of delegates and showing his strength around the country. But

I still think you know Santorum is there for the long haul. And but again I really I continue to believe that this is his race to win. And you know we have a lot more ahead but I think it was good it was good for him to win Ohio. And we should mention that of the 10 states in the Super Tuesday campaign. Newt Gingrich took Georgia. So to his home state and did very well if part of the Romney campaign I'm happy this morning 400 or so delegates up for state. He won a more about 250 or maybe maybe less. But he is establishing himself as the moderate to go to. And winning 10 six out of 10 states last night. If I'm Mitt Romney I'm happy. I would imagine that in terms of the campaign however there is some concern as to whether he can win southern states he lost

to Oklahoma in Tennessee they were up. So there's still lots of work that needs to be done in terms of developing a southern strategy within that campaign. But by and large Super Tuesday was super for him. MARTIN Are you happy if you are working for Mitt Romney this morning. I'm happy but I still see that there's a lot of work to do. You know when you look at the results of last night Mitt did very well. Technically you know in 65 percent of polled say that he should be the expected nominee. However there are still 43 percent out there who aren't convinced and impressed by him. Which is an indication that they're still looking for a different candidate. So excited as I might be I still would be working very hard because I've not proven to be the formidable front runner. Well let's just put some some facts on the table that it may be that 43 percent is as you say not convinced. But the math is the math right. That's right. And

what people forget is that it's it's a popular contest in some sense but it's really a delegate count. And right now Mitt Romney is very far ahead in delegate count. And as many have said it's hard to see how even with losing the upcoming states who are which are all Southern and people expect him to lose that he will put himself behind the eight ball and not be able to come up with the required delegates. Kevin Yeah the math is the math the magic number is eleven forty four 1144 delegates needed to to command the convention in Tampa this summer. He is well ahead on that path of achieving that the rest of his mouth will be a bit shaky because he. Speaker Gingrich has designed a southern strategy where he will likely be successful in states such as Alabama and Mississippi. But I think by and large the former government has a tight hold on the lead

and he will be the inevitable nominee of his his party. So let me let's go a little bit below the numbers if you will in some of these numbers work were coming in prior to Super Tuesday. Because I want to get your feedback Martin to start with you because you are executive director of the Massachusetts black and Latino Democratic Legislative Caucus. There was a huge story in TIME magazine about Latinos and where they may put their votes in the upcoming election and Republicans standing to perhaps lose many of them not to be clear. You know it's not a monolithic group there are plenty of folks who are conservative and who may be well supporting Mitt Romney but in overwhelming numbers. Speaking in generalities that's it looks like Latinos are leaving or are not impressed with what Republicans have to offer. Well some hard numbers came out a couple days before Super Tuesday and they just sort of did a survey in the polls say that every

single Republican GOP candidate presidential candidate right now would only get about 14 percent of the Latino vote. And there is no expert Marvin that I've heard who said that you can win with only 14 percent of the Latino vote. The largest demographic in the U.S. right now. What does that say then and that that includes Mitt Romney who is a front runner who's got the delegate count going all of that. He's only drawn 14 percent of at this point of the Latino vote. Was that me. I think it actually I think it actually spells out what we're seeing played out on the campaign trail. I mean the reality is is that you know Romney is not trusted by a lot of the voters. He doesn't have a broad appeal he doesn't come office and seer. And as he has pushed that you know Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are now the Washington insiders you know it is further exposing the very fact that there is no direct connection to the to the Latino voter. And so what I'm seeing here is is

that this is just playing out how it is played out in previous races that this population is looking for someone that understands them and can comprehend where they are. Mitt Romney spoke about how Earlier we talked think on a previous show we talked about how Mitt made the point of saying that he's not focused on the poor he's focused on the middle class. Well unfortunately there are a lot of there are a lot of Latinos and African-Americans who fall in that category of being poor. And they're looking for a candidate actually speaks to them and can comprehend where they are. Well I think also the critical issue for Latino voters especially over this last year is around immigration reform and they're looking for a candidate who understands the complexity of what it means to be here in the United States as a Latino. When you're struggling to support your family and people are attacking you i.e. we have seen unfortunately from the Republican Party and some Democrat quarters in ignorance around the issue of immigration a vitriolic

sort of sometimes even hatred if you will against immigrants through their policies that they promote on the local level as well as the state level we've seen what's happened in places like Arizona and the various racial profiling laws that have been passed or have been promoted and Latinos are looking at that and they're saying wait a minute. I don't see these folks as compassionate. Maybe I need to look to the Democrats and at least President Obama even though he has not passed a systemic comprehensive immigration bill that would help us along the path to citizenship. He at least is working toward that he at least seems to care about some of the concerns affecting our community. I think this is a big big loss for the Republicans this data. They need these voters they're going to be critical in 2012 and beyond and to your point Kelly. It is a growing demographic it will not cease to grow in the next year or two. So I think this is going to be very interesting. You know if you're President Obama's camp right now you're very thrilled about this because if you can put together a

coalition of Latino voters a coalition of Democratic voters women voters and those college students who came out very strongly for him he's the one talking about student loan forgiveness and debt forgiveness. He has a very formidable base upon which to get elected in November. The Romney people I would be very concerned about that number. The Latino community is the most fluid of minority groups in terms of going back going back and forth between presidential candidates in the bush two election I believe up to 40 percent of Latinos voted for Bush. So they are. So it's not just to be clear just to highlight what you said. It's not that the Republican Party can't draw Latino voters. It's that they did under Bush too. That's what percent that's right so 40 to 30 to 14 is a huge drop and the Republicans will have a strategy around at this point to do to draw those voters into into the Republican camp the idea that that Latinos will

self-deport themselves which is something that Governor Romney sort of advocates. It's ludicrous in the Latino community sort of smells that and they're not buying just one thing. Yes go ahead Martin. I'm sorry. What I wrote what I've realized is that. The national polls are also saying that 73 percent of them have approved of Obama's a performance which is directly talking to what Kelly said. And from that aspect upon how he's handled health care and how he's handled you know the job market or whatnot compared to the GOP. The interesting thing that I find here is that you know why are we you know why are they pretty much shifting gears. And this point of time when you have to look at the fact that they're not coming out in great numbers to the polls as well. They're not coming out to vote they're not excited they're not very enthused about who their candidates are for the GOP. So I think we're looking at the fact that they're going to lean more Democrat as we get closer to November. Well I don't know I think some of that may change the margin when when there is a

definitive candidate. I mean yes there's a whole lot of it seems expressed disappointment about Mitt Romney. But once there is somebody opposing President Obama I think there are such a large number of people who really are opposed to President Obama that will drive them to the polls. And I think this is all about getting close to the polls. One more. Interesting point came out with Mitt Romney actually prior to Super Tuesday but it's been discussed in some circles and that is this that has appeared that he wrote in 2009 in which he very clearly stated that he thought that the health care reform plan that is now in place nationally that what was passed here in Massachusetts would be a model for that. Heretofore he's always said no that's not what I've said. I said we can do our thing in Massachusetts and then but that should not be a model for the details. Maybe something that people pay attention to but Kelly I wonder if people are really paying attention to it. I heard it on the show. Yes I want to quote somebody else. They say he

lied. Yeah you know they may not pay as much attention to it now but I think when this becomes a Romney-Obama race Obama is going to seize this. The fact that Romney is you know conservative one day moderate another day liberal another day said he wasn't in support of health care and then said he was in support of health care. I worked on the health care issue in Massachusetts advocating with other low income and working communities who needed health care. It was absolutely known in every quarter that Mitt Romney was behind this. He was actually the one that made sure that the legislation had the requirement that if you did not participate in the health care plan then you could be financially penalized that was that was his sort of OK this is why I'm going to sign on to this. Which by the way is not well liked that part of the health care law by Democrats Republicans and some independents alike. So and he also has Obama has Governor Deval Patrick who has his Koch campaign co-chair who is going to have all this data available to him. All these sound bites and it's going to make him

look really bad and just bad as an example and others you're going to see that rollout and he's going to really try to show Mitt Romney as a really a guy who is not who he says he is has so much money he doesn't know what to do with it and he's totally out of touch with you voters. And the guy lies and that that could be very important for independent voters who are really I think the crucial voters that are needed to win this election. All right well let's get the last word on Super Tuesday and we could move on to some other stuff. I'm Kelly Crossley We're talking politics with Kelly Bates of the access strategies fun. Kevin Pietersen of UMass Boston and Marvin Benet of the Massachusetts black and Latino Democratic Legislative Caucus. You're listening to eighty nine point seven WGBH Boston Public Radio. This program is on WGBH. Thanks to you and the Harvard innovation lab a

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this afternoon at 2:00 here on eighty nine point seven WGBH. I'm Brian O'Donovan letting you know that tickets are running out for St. Patrick's Day Celtic So you're a remarkable evening of music and dance within the realm of Celtic tradition featuring performances from Susan the kill and the beaters germy kittle and many more. Joyous. To. Secure seats at WGBH dot org stash Celtic. See you there. Morning essential. Help to get your brain to go. You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Bobbsey and Morning Edition by your own WGBH Boston Public Radio and good when you're on Jeopardy. Welcome back to the Calla Crossley Show. If you're just tuning in we're talking politics national and

local with Kelly Bates Kevin Pietersen and Marvin Vinay. Kelly Bates is the executive director of the access strategies fun. Kevin Pietersen is the founder of the New Democracy coalition which is based at UMass Boston. And Marvin Benet is the executive director of the Massachusetts black and Latino Democratic Legislative Caucus. OK folks So word on the street now and by polling Senator Scott Brown has pulled ahead of Elizabeth Warren in polling for the Massachusetts Senate race. The polls are all over the place. They're all over the place. He did pull ahead. He's he's been around the same for a while. But some other polls show Lauren slightly ahead listen these are two very very popular strong candidates. And I think we're going to see this bounce in the polls in this back and forth for a little while but he definitely has gotten a little bit of a bump. And even if you average out these polls and it doesn't look like much change it helps him in the press to be able to say look I'm doing better and that

helps with fund raising and that certainly helps with his image. I think though one of the things that hasn't reached the headlines yet is we're going to learn that he was not able to stay to his pledge of making sure that Pax did not put a lot of money into his campaign independent PACs the coalition of Americans for political equality. I did some online advertising pro Scott Brown advertising and we can't tell how coordinated it was or what the situation was but now he has to give 50 percent of that to a charity of choice for Elizabeth Warren I think first of all it's just interesting that that happened. But the other thing is I think it's as that goes to the press that's just going to put some doubt in voters minds about you know this guy puts out a pledge. You know he can't really manage his own pledge. And you know I don't know this guy's sort of part of the 1 percent. But but in fairness to the Super PACs are supposed to be quite separate from the candidates so he can't really control them. You know ostensibly they just do their thing now. He may like what they're

doing but now if he does to come out of his pocket I don't think he will so it will and many people had sort of pooh poohed this arrangement anyway saying it can't work for that very reason that he can't control the exactly and neither can she. You're not allowed to coordinate and I coordinate you know you get yourself into into trouble. I don't know how long this this pact will well will last but I'm not you probably meant about the Dreaming about the Packers right. OK but I'm not surprised by the numbers fluctuating or. Scott Brown being in the lead. Scott Brown is an incumbent First of all who who is doing an OK job I think most people sort of responded to him not giving into any sort of major controversies in terms of how the Republicans are operating in Washington D.C. and he appeals to the working men moderates and Democrats across the across come I think is to both of these candidates are highly experienced they will have a lot of money a lot of you know have very sophisticated

staff working the campaign. And this will be a highly competitive race so I think the numbers are going to as Kelli suggested as she said they will fluctuate from time to time and they'll be and in the end of the day will be be decided between two or three percentage points can be very very close. A couple things first of all there are two other people on the Democratic side still in this race. Maria DeFrantz fresco and blanket on the other person's name will come to me in just a second but but there are two other people. So she is the presumed nominee but not yet the official one. Just to say that even though as we see here people are putting the two of them together now to you Marvin because you have long said this guard Brown has been very smart in the way that he's played his politics with regard to being a Republican and being a Republican from Massachusetts. This is true. I think that Scott has you know and I'm not you know from the prime not saying that I'm supporting Scott or endorsing this guy by any means

but I will say that he's played it as too to a degree somewhat safe there are a couple things that I think he has mishandled particularly around the LGBT community as it relates to you know the get out the campaign that they were doing and he avoided doing so because of some personal conflicts with other others involved. But what he did was he isolated a community that could have become a good base for him. Now they've been pushed over to Warren. And I think that although the poll numbers show a small variance between the two. These are poll numbers very early on right now. I think once we get to you know September we can vote in a primary you will see a huge difference in the numbers and we will be able to really get into getting engaged in this race and catch up on with some debates and so forth and allow both candidates to come out and speak you know to the issues. And I think then is where you will see a significant shift in the polls.

So how much margin while you're talking do you think that he was harmed or helped by his support of the Blunt amendment which would have put it back in the hands of some religious affiliated institutions the ability to deny. Payment of that kind of care by the institution as it's set up now just for everybody to be clear. The insurers pay for people who may be working at institutions that are religiously affiliated or who may not be of the religion affiliated with an institution the institution itself does not have to pay. But in any case Scott Brown put forth and supported an amendment which would have made it possible for the institution to say we don't want any of it I don't care what is the what is the manner by which it is paid through the insurance company or whatever. A lot of people say that that hurt him particularly with women voters but others say not so much. Curious about what you think.

Martin I personally you know unfortunately it doesn't it will not hurt him until someone takes a stand against it. Until women voters stand up and actually have an issue with it and they make a point about it this will be one of those issues that kind of gets pushed under the rug unfortunately. You know I think that he typically goes to you know a more of somewhat of a semi radical approach if you will he tries to go against the grain a little bit. And I think this is one of those where he made this this call supporting supporting you know the Senator Blunt amendment. And I think he you know he believes that this is the right choice but in the end I think if women voters again I say if they don't step up and make a point of this then this will not become as much of an issue. Well it's very shortsighted because Elizabeth Warren's campaign they're very smart they're going to seize upon this they are seizing upon this. Many women are looking to her as a possible candidate. And some women who frankly weren't paying that much attention to this election are now sort of rearing their head saying now wait a second we're talking about contraception you're talking about my

life my personal private matters and they don't like men being involved in that. A lot of the Times or any politician for that matter and so I think Elizabeth Warren can use this to her advantage and say you know I would never do something like this. And you know this is an example of how Scott Brown is in lockstep with the Republicans and he's not in a lot in support of women in our health care. And I'll fight for you so I think they're aware of that this campaign and I do think it could have certainly have an impact with women voters and also younger women voters who you know need support for their contraception and you know may again not pay attention normally to these kinds of debates. But once this issue comes up it affects some very very personal at home they start to pay attention. Before you weigh in Kevin let me just my apologies to Marissa Franco and James Coyne king who are the other candidates running for a Scott Brown seat on the Democratic side it's important remember that there are two other candidates in the

field along with Elizabeth Warren. Kevin let me rephrase the question to you in this way and that is a lot of people are saying he didn't have to say anything. He could have done what he often has done just can't just be quiet about this and let it ride. Why did he get it. Well well it's unclear to me what to strategy is. I would imagine that he he could have gotten away with just not saying anything but instead he he threw away a high high fastball over the plate for the Elizabeth Warren team to hit to have her campaign bring this issue up. It will harm Senator Brown because this is a is playing to the Warrens base which are women. And I don't see Brown being able to to to argue in any coherent fashion why he voted for this when clearly 50

more than 50 percent of the electorate in the state are women voters and this simply goes against their lifestyles or their ability to choose. I do want to say this with regard to that what you are saying about the women's vote quite well. It's not monolithic. There is plenty of conservative women. Maybe they agree with him so maybe it's a wash for him. Well it's interesting that shortly after this issue came into the press to see a number of Catholic women strong leaders came forward and said no we support women having the ability and men to have contraception and have protection I thought that was very courageous that's not easy to say as Catholic women. So I think on this I think I think I do think there are some women who view contraception and abortion differently. And so when it when it looks at things like prevention I think you have more women across political party across the spectrum who are more

in line on that whereas I think the issue of abortion pro-choice a little bit more of a lightning rod. So I think I think in general this definitely was something that I think Elizabeth Warren can seize upon. I do think frankly that in three months people might forget. Unless she brings that up. One thing I would add is that I think that in this discussion that when folks brought up the fact that by aggro was routinely covered and the response often for people who supported this was well that's a different situation. And that may well be but I don't think that's a good answer for a lot of women who are saying well wait a minute you know give me something else other than that's a different situation. I'm just putting that out there. OK two more things about Scott Brown because he's gotten some endorsements one by Governor Chris Christie who was you know come in to do a big fundraiser for him. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is very popular someone that lots of folks wanted to see run for president. Big big big. Some were even saying that when Romney was sort of down in the

dumps before to Super Tuesday that there were many secret conversations or maybe not so secret going on with Governor Christie yet again to get him to jump in. Be that as it may he's come out and lend his popularity his forthrightness all of the stuff that people really appreciate about him. To Scott Brown big benefit for him. Well no of endorsement from the governors in other states sort of work in other states. He's pretty much know nationally Don't you think. Yeah but I don't I don't think voters are controlled in that way in ways that for example Chris Christie doesn't have a machine that will get those people who know him and in this state out on election day to vote for him for Senator Brown. You know at best it's cosmetic and it looks good from the outset particularly to the national press community that they see. Governor Christie in town endorsing him but I'm not sure if it has much value beyond that except for that fundraising night where he probably brought a lot of money raised a lot of money for the senator.

Beyond that I don't I don't know what the utility is of the endorsement is. OK what you said has to be a local person what about Ray Flynn. You came out former Mayor Ray Flynn and support its support of particularly in this country. The mayor I think still carries cache in this town so there may be some people who are influenced by that. But again endorsements without machines that get people out to vote for particular. They really exist anymore. Well you know Christie's endorsement benefits. It benefits Christine as well as he wants to be. He wants to be the go to guy that people want either for a vice presidential candidate or is seen as someone who can fundraise for others. That was Sarah Palin not too long ago if you recall for the conservative candidates who are running for Republican nominations all around the country for various positions that's not her. You don't see that as much as her role so he's positioning himself I think very well to be a strong vice presidential candidate and a

future presidential candidate. All right well I'm not mad at him if he's doing that you know but it looks good. You're listening to eighty nine point seven WGBH and online at WGBH dot org. We're talking politics this hour I'm joined by Kelly Bates executive director of the access strategies fund. Kevin Pietersen founder of the New Democracy coalition and Marvin Benet the executive director of the Massachusetts black and Latino Democratic Legislative Caucus. Well the other big deal election are I think it's going to be a big deal election is the district the reconfigured district for for people who don't keep up with the numbers That's Barney Frank's old district Joseph Kennedy the third. Key of great name but perhaps not much political experience. It's one of the folks in the race. Sean B Lott who made kind of a name for himself the last go round by opposing Barney Frank and there was a 10 point gap between them. But he came from nobody knowing his name to a lot of folks knowing his name and

getting to a 10 point gap. So he's certainly one of the candidates and there are some others that I want to mention. But let's just talk in general about that race and what you think. You think it's going to proceed. Will it be as intense a race as important a race as the Scott Brown Elizabeth Warren Senate race everybody asked are with Marvin Marvin. No I actually I do not believe that it will bring as much for him see from the media. Nor do I believe that there will be a large volunteer base created from both camps. Shawn ballot has you know he's been gone from Massachusetts for a little wow went back to Pennsylvania when his daughter was born he's come back he's back on the campaign trail and he's trying to rework you know he's moved around so his base is shifting. But I don't perceive that either one of these candidates all have the rock star star power of an Elizabeth Warren or Senator Scott Brown. And so I think that all those race will be

watched because the Kennedy name is engaged and because Congressman Barney Frank has held this seat for so long I still don't believe that it's going to find. Enough power in it to really generate an extreme amount of media attention as the Warren verse Brownrig. KELLY Well I think it's I don't it's certainly not going to have the star power you know factor of the Warren Brown race I think. I think it's really up to Joe Kennedy to be honest I mean when the Kennedys really put themselves out in the public and you know get on the campaign trail Massachusetts pays attention so I think you know I think although young and maybe not as experienced as some of the other Kennedys he's a Kennedy nonetheless and he's grown up in politics and that goes to experience just being on campaigns and being around people who have won campaigns so I think it's really a question of how much he wants to put out you know his persona out into the press but I agree I don't think it's going to be as sexy as interesting as the brown Warren race. I think what Kennedy and Warren

Kennedy Warren and Obama though stand on each other's shoulders. And I think when you think about the election they they all need each other in Massachusetts and so you see Kennedy campaigning with Warren right now in the districts that he would represent that helps Warren. And then with Obama being on the ballot they can all kind of sort of join their voters together if you will so I think that could be kind of interesting to pay attention to that race in terms of just sort of the larger implications on the other races but now it definitely pales in comparison to Brown and Warren. Kevin I'm going to ask you to hold. For just a moment then lead off lead us off when we come back. We're talking politics with Kelly Bates. Kevin Pietersen and Marvin Benet. You're listening to the Calla Crossley Show on eighty nine point seven. Boston Public Radio. The.

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town with no help from the Japanese government. People along the northern coast are relying on each other as they tried to rebuild Japan one year after the tsunami. Our coverage begins next time on the world. Coming up at 3 here on eighty nine point seven WGBH. In the words of John Updike what art offers is space a certain breathing room for the spirit to let your mind wonder with the 30th annual WGBH fine art auction browse the online catalog for one of a kind works of art from all over the world. Bidding closes March 24th and every bid supports the reach and resources of WGBH programs and stations sponsored by Landry in our Cari oriental rugs and carpeting and circle furniture for full listings visit auction dot WGBH dot org. Great question and it's a great question and that's a great question. It's a great question. Rick great question on fresh air you'll hear unexpected questions and unexpected answers this afternoon at 9.7.

Welcome back to the Calla Crossley Show if you're just tuning in we're talking politics national and local with Kelly Bates. Kevin Pietersen and Marvin Benet. Kelly Bates is the executive director of the access strategies fund. Kevin Pietersen is founder of the New Democracy coalition which is out of UMass Boston. And Marvin Benet is the executive director of the Massachusetts black and Latino Democratic Legislative Caucus. Kevin I cut you off and you don't have a chance to weigh in on whether or not you thought the District 4 race that's Barney Frank's old district now reconfigured under redistricting the some of the key players are Joseph Kennedy the third and also Sean B Lott who ran against Barney Frank the last go around. I think it will attract attention. I think it probably will be the most contested of the nine congressional races across the state. And it has an interesting to redistrict it's a reconfigured a

bit. But there is still a conservative base in that district which. To which I will have some advantage over Kili but you can get over or underestimate the Kennedy name it's just has so much. But tensions high wattage but it will not it will not achieve the sort of attention that Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren Reese will will achieve. But I don't see this one as being one that's over looked at I think it will attract a fair amount of national attention because of the narrative around Kennedy's name in there not being a Kennedy in the in the elected national office over the last last year where prior to that there'd been a Kennedy in national office for the last 40 50 years or so so that will bring some attention to the race I think. Well a couple of points first of all we should note that Sean be running as a Republican opposing Joseph Kennedy be running as a Democrat in that district did not fall off the

turnip truck yesterday. I mean the man here yes he is a decorated military person. He's got a business degree. He started companies he's got a lot of tentacles into the business community here. Marvin even though he left and lived in Pennsylvania for a while he's I mean he's got a lot of foundational support already here so it's not going to be like and again he came 10.0 close to Barney Frank in the last race. So you know I just want to point that out for a lot of folks. I also want to point you to did I make some good points here yeah. No great point. All right. I got to point out because this is my little hobby horse. I think that people put themselves up to run for office that we shouldn't pretend like they don't exist and there are a number of other people running for in that race and I'm going to name them right now. Oh there I am because I think that's crazy that's right Paul hero. I'm saying it correctly pronouncing it correctly of Attleboro is running and I want to point out that none of these people fell off the turnip truck yesterday they all come with a great amount of

credentials and a number of credentials that are pretty particular to the district that I think people living in the district would be interested in. Marty Ferran is also running. There is also a Jules Levine let me see if I've gotten everybody. I think I think that's it. But these are all on the on the Republican side. Elizabeth Chiles each one of the persons I've just mentioned. If people were to investigate their background they are coming with some credentials so this is a really probably one of the most highly credentials in terms of the variety of people running on both sides of the aisle it's really quite interesting and I think that speaks to District Four What would you say the district for but it also speaks to is to make certain degree of the strength and the health of our democracy the more people run for office the better. So District 4 will be. It will probably be more candidates sort of competing interests before than the other congressional districts around the state. I just say

this is this is just good for for debacle democracy in general. I think though it does point to a larger issue which is the legacy of Massachusetts when a Kennedy enters a race no matter how many people are there it makes it very very difficult because of the legacy and regardless of what you think of Joe Kennedy as a candidate it makes it very difficult for the other candidates to get a real strong foothold. And I I think that can be troublesome in our democracy sometimes when you know that name just carries so much weight it's hard for those other candidates to shine and they may have some really good skills that are needed for a district. But they're not going to get the same level of attention. Michael Ross who is a city councilor in Boston was going to run for the seat once Joe Kennedy entered he just took himself out of the game completely. Very smart man very good at reaching out to diverse communities. Good substance behind him. So I mean you know it just it just scares people away. No no. You know I'm not saying anything about Kennedy himself. I just think it makes it

difficult for people to be able to. Pushed their way through the process. And is that because of the machine that Kevin speaks about. Marvin you get in and you answer this question too because Kevin is that all the endorsements in the world that love out here in popular don't mean anything unless you have a machine to go with it. We would assume Marvin that there is a machine behind a Kennedy. We would assume that I mean one of the biggest things are going to make the difference in these races for this particular race is fundraising. You know if they cannot raise the capital to compete against a Kennedy if Kennedy goes full throttle and decides that they are going to you know put an exorbitant amount of money behind Joe Kennedy to get him into office that's a lot to compete with so it's not just the name you're competing against You're now competing against the people who are followers of the Kennedy name who carry a large amount of weight themselves who are in the district and outside of the district. So you know I think that this race will although I still don't think it has the the the rock star

power if you will. But I do believe that the winner of this race is going to have to be the most competitors are going to have to compete against a lot of money. Well I think that's an important point and money has become a really. A big issue across the board from the presidential campaign on one last thing on Joe Kennedy Joseph Kennedy the third. Some have said he missed an opportunity to speak out when the controversy contraception controversy was going on that he could have particularly spoken back to Rick Santorum GOP presidential candidate who referenced a John F. Kennedy speech and said it made him want to throw up and then connected that with the contraception controversy. Patrick Kennedy spoke out and said a former former a congressperson in Rhode Island said no this is not appropriate you're incorrect. But Joseph Kennedy said nothing bad move. Well I think it's potentially a bad move but I think that at the

Kennedy in the campaign when to be silent on this as they're devising their platform and readying the candidate to be more public and more vocal on a variety of issues. I think there was some calculation within the Kennedy family which which which had Patrick congressman former country Patrick can you speak up about it. But I think the the young Joe Joe the third Joe 3 K as they call him is getting himself ready. Three point three you know. Yes getting himself ready. And while this might have been an opportunity for him I think there was some calculation about him standing down until he gets more coordinated around his public positions. Yeah I mean you know you have to look at what do you lead with you know President Obama came out and he led with health care and Bill Clinton led with gays in the military and you know I think they probably did make a decision you know what is this really the one we want to come out of the box with. Let Patrick handle it. Let's like you know as you were saying Kevin let's figure out what our platform is come out with something

positive a strategy probably around the economy or jobs or something else and let's just see where this goes. Bad move and I Marvin should he should have said something. No I think that he I think that he did right by not speaking on a topic that he might not have solidified his position on because this would have spiraled into a much larger discussion. And I don't think that he is prepared right now to handle that sort of battle. Scott Brown is in a position where he can just fire back until you actually Patrick would end up getting into it. I'm sorry. Joe Kennedy will end up getting in a fight when we have Scott Brown. And ladies and gentlemen this case but Scott Brown to understand what you mean yeah very true. And then that would have taken away and given I guess you know his his opponent Sean Bell a lot of leverage moving forward in the in the race right now he's trying to keep things clean and try to figure out his positioning so that once he comes out and they go to a debate mode he can actually have a healthy discussion and he can say that I don't carry a lot of baggage or you know or whatnot with me as I'm moving forward in this

race so I think it was smart for him to stay away from it. But I definitely believe that it was calculated and that's the reason why Patrick Kennedy came out of Stetson. Well the other I actually just thought of another reason he may have stayed out of this one even though he obviously is part of the Kennedy name and legacy. He doesn't want to just look like you know he's like the other relatives. I think given the demographics of this district to Kevin's point there are more conservative voters and I think you want to create the image that you are yourself. It's difficult to do if you're a Kennedy but I think that's also may have been at the back of their mind as you know. You don't have to kind of align yourself there yet. Good point. So here's what Elizabeth Giles running in this same race as a Republican against be let on that side. Jules Levine who is running as a Democrat. Mentioning their names again Paul hero. And one more person I mean Marty fair and you are all saying

alike and that is that they are very distressed by the. Kind of not civil dialogue or lack of movement where the folks who are representing us in Washington. And they're emphasizing they're normal citizens not career politicians that I mention all that by way of preamble to Olympia Snow announcement that she's stepping down because she can't take the rancor anymore that it's just too much and nothing is getting done. I think it's interesting that all the candidates running in this district for race are saying the same thing at this moment. And I think it's a frustration that expression nationally you have these turbulent low approval numbers for Congress these days 14 15 percent of the people are saying that they are. Not appreciating the gridlock in Washington D.C. which is exist which exists now in ways that has never existed in the past. And I think

Senator Snowe deciding not to run is emblematic of how dysfunctional Washington D.C. If you go and you have congressional members who swear at the at the first day of the midterm elections that their only objective for this congressional term is to do to have the president fail. I mean that's a pretty sad indictment of where we are in terms of our political culture. So her stepping down both symbolically and both in very practical terms what does it mean Kelli. Well I think there for a while there were a number of senators that you could count on who would work across the aisle. You know and when you have people like Olympia Snowe stepping down those numbers are getting smaller and smaller they were the bridge builders between the parties around major issues that affect their lives as voters. When you don't have them there it makes it a lot harder to get things done. So I I think it's it is problematic. The larger question of how can things get done in Congress. And it's sad.

I think it's actually sad you know you knew you could count on the Olympia Snowe is someone who is really going to weigh both sides and you didn't know where she was going to be and I think sometimes that's healthy for our democracy and she worked very hard across the aisle around major policies and programs there's not that many people left like her. And so I think it leaves a leadership vacuum for people who are willing to work across party. And I think we're just going to get more deeper and deeper into you know partisan boxes with all of this. There's any number of folks who've said they're interested in replacing her running for that seat. It was a safe Republican seat now not so safe some are predicting of the names that you've heard and I'm sure some it is too many to mention. Who would you think might actually be someone serious. Have you heard anybody serious that you would name right now. I've not heard of any serious contenders at this stage. You know there are a number of candidates as you indicated who are out there who jump on the seat because it's not

been available for some time but I haven't heard a strong candidate who stood out as what we would call the formidable leader at this point. OK there is the former two term Maine Governor Angus King. He does have a name and it may come down to having a name. Anybody hearing that there might be an effort to sort of replace her with someone who is in temper and tone as she is. Have you heard that Kevin. No I think the dust hasn't settled around this I mean the resignation was or the decision didn't happen until this past weekend. And I think potential candidates up in Maine are sort of scrambling to see if they can actually meet the March 15 ballot deadline which is an anonymous task in and of itself so I think we'll have to wait until things to settle well to get a sense of who's who serious because. You know you are you're judged by how serious you are based on your ability to raise money and put an organization together quickly so it doesn't sell yet so it's hard to say.

I do hope we'll see some women candidates demand there. There's just not enough women in Congress for hauling. Given that we're 50 percent of the population and the numbers of women in Congress is so small I think Olympia Snowe you know she wasn't always a champion of women's issues per se. But you know she she was a woman's voice nonetheless. So I think it'll be interesting to see who kind of comes into this race and how many women choose to do so and who kind of has the interest in infrastructure. But but I think it was a sad moment I promised I always appreciated her level of thoughtfulness and rationality and her ability to stay above the fray. I think one of the things it did to your point oh Margaret go ahead I'm sorry. No no no I was just going to say that you know the shock waves that were created as Kelly indicated from her announcing her retirement even the insiders were were moved because they believe that they had you know a pulse on what was going on in that she was just going to continue. And I think with the fact that she made such a

shift in their entire population out there and Maine and also in Congress because now as we see it you know there's a very likely chance the Democrats could take over Congress again. Losing this seat potentially. Right. One of things I just want to say is that she's so highly regarded that nobody questioned her motivation and I think that really says a lot in these days and times. All right that wraps up another political roundtable I've been joined by Kelly Bates executive director of the access strategies fund. Kevin Pietersen founder of the New Democracy coalition which is based at the college for public and community service at UMass Boston. And Marvin Benet executive director of the Massachusetts black and Latino Democratic Legislative Caucus thanks you guys. Thank you thank you. Today Show's engineer by Alan Mann is produced by Chelsea Myers will Rose lippen Abbey Ruzicka where a production of WGBH Boston Public Radio.