Democratic candidate for governor Deval Patrick is lighting up the Massachusetts blogosphere this summer.
Patrick’s summer “blog blitz,” so dubbed by sco at .08 Acres and a Donkey, is an innovation in Massachusetts politics, and a recognition of the growing importance of bloggers in public life. Sco thinks “Patrick’s reaching out to us here on the Internet is a reflection of his campaign’s focus on youth outreach — after all, Internet users taken as a whole tend to be younger than the general population.”
I think its also true that we have a very politically interested and thoughtful bunch of bloggers here in Massachusetts. Patrick was asked good questions in the first round of blogger interviews, and he gave interesting answers. What’s more, the bloggers have clearly done their best to report their conversations honestly and fairly.
This time David Eisenthal of the The Eisenthal Report who writes about “politics, public policy, and culture, with particular emphasis on western and central Massachusetts” questioned Patrick, who is running as progressive, reform candidate for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Mitt Romney in 2006.
Among other things, Eisenthal reports, “In discussing public corruption in Springfield and elsewhere in the Commonwealth, Patrick took the opportunity to criticize rival Democratic candidate and state Attorney General Tom Reilly, saying ‘I can’t tell you of a single anti-corruption investigation by our Attorney General anywhere in Massachusetts.’ Patrick feels that the state Attorney General’s office is well-placed to be able to take the lead in such investigations, because it is more insulated from political pressures that face local District Attorney’s offices.”
Lynne at Left in Lowell interviews Patrick next week.
[Crossposted from FrederickClarkson.com]
