Pressure’s on Lt. Gov. to come out swinging: Troubled Republican faces tough test in debate tonight
By Kimberly Atkins
Boston Herald Reporter
Wednesday, October 25, 2006 - Updated: 12:51 AM EST
Pollsters playing the Grim Reaper are hounding Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey as she steps onto the TV debate stage tonight, struggling to resuscitate her ailing campaign for governor amid warnings to tone down the negative attacks.
Tonight’s CBS4 7 p.m. showdown with Deval Patrick will show whether Healey will stick with the strategy of negative attacks that two new polls indicate have instead sent shrapnel flying her way.
Polls conducted by SurveyUSA for CBS4 and Suffolk University for 7NEWS make one thing clear - Healey’s camp appears to have hurt her own bid with TV ads scoring Patrick for supporting convicted rapist Ben LeGuer, including one showing a woman being stalked in a parking garage.
“She came out with the ads supposedly to get support from women who were concerned about personal safety and their kids’ safety,” said Carol Hardy-Fanta, director of the nonpartisan Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. “They seem to have backfired quite severely.”
With her unfavorability ratings at an all-time high and Patrick reopening a wide 25 to 27 percent lead in the polls, Healey has less than two weeks to redefine herself.
Pundits say she should emphasize her own attributes, but her campaign yesterday said she will “pose direct questions to Deval Patrick every day to force him to tell voters where he stands on important issues.” She continues to push for a one-on-one debate, an offer Patrick rejected.
But in the Suffolk/7News poll, 61 percent of voters said the recent tone of her campaign made them less likely to vote for her. More than 53 percent of voters now view her unfavorably. Patrick has just a 24 percent unfavorable rating.
“Massachusetts voters were pushed to the limit,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, in a statement about the new survey. “The negative tone by Kerry Healey was overkill. ”
Patrick, conversely, has effectively promoted himself while linking Healey to another pol with sagging poll numbers, Gov. Mitt Romney.
“The Democrats have done a good job of hanging the criticism of the Romney administration around Healey’s neck,” said Republican strategist Jason Kauppi.
Healey’s campaign did, however, unveil a new upbeat TV ad touting her plans for pension reform, veteran aid, holding the line on property taxes and blocking illegal immigrants from in-state college tuition and from obtaining driver’s license