Deval Patrick is no fool and he's not driven by ego

[StarfishSaver]

If he's getting in the race, he has a good reason and he will likely surprise a lot of people.

Stay tuned.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Another Democrat with more decency, intellect and patriotism in

a single nose hair than the entire GOP combined.

[AncientGeezer]

31. Managing Director of Bain Capital....just now stepped down to run

Bothers me.

[Tiggeroshii]

34. He helped push the narrative against Romney for being with Bain

He will have to wrestle with some perceived hypocrisy over it...

[AncientGeezer]

37. Supporters will have to wrestle with that.....I'd suppose.

[Tiggeroshii]

39. Yeah

[JoeOtterbein]

2. I like Deval Patrick. No fool for sure.

Thanks for the post.

[AncientGeezer]

38. Bain Capital managing director....not bothersome?

[evertonfc]

3. the old Obama

team tried for a year to convince him to run. He is as close to Obama as you can get, as far as friends. No way he got in without Obama's blessing.

[Demsrule86]

11. That is crap...and just another hit on the front runner Biden...if he gets in, he will be out in

weeks,it is too late. And no one knows who he is anyway...if he wanted this should have done it at the beginning.

[BootinUp]

17. Or is it an attempt to knock down

Bidens other challengers? Either way he has zero chance at this point.

[VarryOn]

4. Been reading up on him this evening...

And watched a couple videos of speeches. I like what I read and see.

[AncientGeezer]

36. Including his Bain Capital association?

Managing Director....of..

[VarryOn]

41. He's not a life-long pol...

He was in business before politics. I dont see it unusual he'd go back.As far as I can tell, Bain is a good company, despite Romney's being CEO years ago.

I like it he's got biz experience.

I'm not committed to him, but I'm more excited about him than anyone we've seen running this far.i really like Sen Klobuchar, but dont see her catching on. I can see Patrick doing it , though.

[AncientGeezer]

46. Bain Cap is a vulture entity....ALWAYS has been

[Me.]

5. Sadly I Cannot Agree

it's late in the game and he has little name recognition across the country.

[msongs]

6. bet they said the same about bill clinton nt

[Me.]

9. True

But he's no Bill Clinton...

[StarfishSaver]

13. Few people knew Bill Clinton was Bill Clinton in 1991

[Me.]

15. Again True

[BlueMTexpat]

21. Well, he was noticed at a national level before then

although not necessarily in a good way.

But then he appeared on Johnny Carson's Late Show.

For some nostalgia: https://www.vox.com/2016/7/26/12285312/bill-clinton-dnc-1988-speaker-late-night

[BlueMTexpat]

43. Just one thing to add

to my previous comment ....

Bill Clinton had a not-so-secret weapon that Patrick does not.

Bill Clinton had Hillary.

In fact, many wondered why SHE wasn't the candidate instead of her husband in 1992.

[dsc]

18. Clinton started running well before Nov of 91

and he had a strong regional base in the South. Remember Iowa wasn't contested his year and he lost NH to Tsongas but then won big on Super Tuesday and didn't look back.

[StarfishSaver]

19. Not really

Clinton announced is candidacy in October 1991.

And few took him seriously until Super Tuesday.

[Thekaspervote]

7. Nor I ...once thought he would be a good VP choice when a poster here sent me down this path

Those that know him best on his home turf said this

bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/11/… His record in corporate America has come under close scrutiny since he left office; the conclusions that have been reached won’t play well in this electorate. I just don’t see how his history with Ameriquest & Bain Capital gets spun into a net positive.

Bain capital..Romney... ring a bell?

[aikoaiko]

8. I don't have much respect for someone trying to avoid the vetting process.

I hope the late entries are completely ignored.

[Demsrule86]

10. I have no interest.

[TheCowsCameHome]

12. Ask someone from Massachusetts about his time as governor.

You may be surprised.

He should stay out of the 2020 campaign.

[Green Line]

14. I live in Mass

He's not very popular here, I doubt he'd get re-elected again. I read all the comments in the Boston Globe article today, not a whole lot of love for him.

[tritsofme]

16. For most of these white knight late entrants, the high water mark of the campaign

is the day before he announces.

[Gothmog]

20. I do not think that "Buttigieg but older," or "Biden but younger" ticket will work

According to Perry Bacon on Nate's site, Patrick is running on “Buttigieg but older,” or “Biden but younger” ticket fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-deval-patrick-is-making-a-late-bid-for-the-democratic-nomination/

You might think that Patrick’s logical path is to compete with Biden for black voters, and with Warren and Sanders for New Hampshire voters (all three come from neighboring states). And sure, it would help Patrick if he can peel off some of Warren’s well-educated liberal voters, particularly in New Hampshire. And to win the nomination, he will probably have to close the big lead that Biden has with African-Americans. But I think the real opening for Patrick is essentially to replace Pete Buttigieg as the candidate for voters who want a charismatic, optimistic, left-but-not-that-left candidate. Patrick, I think, is betting that there’s a “Goldilocks” opportunity for him — “Buttigieg but older,” or “Biden but younger” — a candidate who is viewed as both safe on policy and safe on electability grounds by Democratic establishment types and voters who just want a somewhat generic Democratic candidate that they are confident will win the general election.....

There is a potential problem, though: I’m not sure voters really want Buttigieg-but-older or Biden-but-younger. Whatever the Democratic elites think, Democratic voters like the current field, as I noted above. That makes me think that people in Iowa, where the South Bend mayor is surging, are not looking for Buttigieg-but-older. They’re probably well aware of how old Buttigieg is — he talks about it all the time! Biden, meanwhile, has led in national polls most of the year and has solid leads in Nevada and South Carolina — it’s possible many voters view his age and related experience as a feature not a bug. Patrick will be a fresh candidate and perhaps have a more honed message, but in the end may register with actual voters not much differently than Booker or Harris or any of the other lower-tier candidates, black or non-black....

So my bottom line: Patrick is a more logical candidate to lead the Democratic Party than 77-year-old Michael Bloomberg, who has also been considering a last-ditch candidacy. The former New York City mayor is old, had tense relationships with black activists in the city and isn’t that closely tied to the Democratic Party. Patrick is black, not that old, a former civil rights lawyer and a stalwart Democrat. He would have been a totally logical Democratic nominee in 2016 and even 2020 if he had run a traditional campaign from the beginning. His late entrance, however, makes his path really, really hard. I’m sure the donor crowd that he talks to is convinced that the Democrats have four flawed frontrunners. But I’m not sure that the voters will agree.

[BlueMTexpat]

22. Nor do I. eom

[Skya Rhen]

23. With AAs, he is no Biden - we know Biden and will remain loyal to him (and I like Deval, a lot)...

But love Biden much, much more.

[MBS]

26. It seems to me that this is not the year for a "coastal liberal."

. . .especially someone as connected to the financial world as he has been.
I just don't see how he plays well in Iowa or, in fact, in any of the midwestern states.
Plus there's the late entry.
I don't see the voters buying this candidacy even for the Democratic nomination, not to mention the general election.
Certainly, I don't buy it (and I even liked him as governor).

[seaglass]

24. Well I think he fvcked over public unions on healthcare in MA, so he's a no for me. n/t

[MBS]

25. I liked Deval Patrick as governor, but I think that he's making a BIG mistake.

. . .both for his own career, and for the party.

He's unlikely to win the Democratic nomination at this point, and IMO he has little to no chance of winning the GE.

He should be doing something else with his talents, like working with Stacey Abrams to fight voter suppression and to beef up election security; campaigning for local and national Democratic candidates, including but not limited to, the presidential nominee; or working on other causes to ensure a Democratic victory in Congress, the White House, and state governments in 2020.

[WheelWalker]

27. IMO like someone coming out of an alley the last half-mile of a marathon to join the race.

[AncientGeezer]

28. Will his Bain Capital connection worry anyone?

[highplainsdem]

29. Hard to tell, but prospective Bain investors just told Axios that Patrick had assured them

he wouldn't run in 2020, but he didn't rule out running in 2024.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=346303

No info in that Axios article on exactly how recently he was telling prospective investors that he wouldn't run in 2020.

[AncientGeezer]

32. Well..he's in, so someone is wrong

[highplainsdem]

33. One article I saw, in Politico I think, suggests he made the decision just a few days ago.

Found it again:

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/12/deval-patrick-elizabeth-warren-2020-070374

BOSTON — When Elizabeth Warren was asked to name three African Americans she'd choose for her presidential cabinet last week, she pointed to her friend Deval Patrick as one of them.

But the former Massachusetts governor had other ideas.

Around the same time, the former governor and a handful of close allies were huddling not far from Warren's campaign headquarters, plotting a surprise entry into the Democratic primary.

-snip-

Patrick met with former Sen. Mo Cowan and political strategist Rosy Gonzalez at Cowan's home in Stoughton on Sunday night to discuss a potential campaign. Patrick had appointed Cowan to the Senate in 2013, where he served alongside Warren.

-snip-

That article also mentions something I hadn't heard earlier:

Patrick led Warren as the preferred presidential candidate in the Bay State according to state polls last year, before Warren entered the race and Patrick ruled it out.

[BannonsLiver]

30. I really don't think so.

[Raine]

40. I like him

and would like to learn more about him, 🤔 I wish he was going to be in next week's debate.

[TidalWave46]

42. I'll see how he does. NT

[aidbo]

44. Well, he surprised me with this..

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287346388

[StarfishSaver]

45. This is a false characterization of what actually happened.

And I'm very suspicious that this false narrative came out so quickly after he announced.

It looks like you didn't read my posts in that thread you linked to in which I explained in considerable detail what actually happened and why Patrick did NOT "fire leaders of his state's Sex Offender Registry for trying to force his brother in law to register," so I'll repost them here so that you won't continue to operate on false information.

The story was more complicated than that

Among other things, the official wasn't fired for "questioning" the decision not to have him register but because she illegally pressured the hearing officer to change his ruling that the law did not require him to register, and retaliated against him when he refused - and engaged in similar conduct in other cases.

A hearing officer, Attilio Paglia, determined that Sigh was not obligated to register, ruling that he posed no danger to the public, according to court records.

But Edwards, Holmes, and other top officials at the board pressured Paglia to reverse his decision, according to the governor and to a lawsuit Paglia filed in December 2008, alleging improper interference in the case and others.

In his lawsuit, Paglia alleged that board officials sent him a revised ruling that concluded that Sigh was obligated to register and asked Paglia to sign it.

Paglia refused and then began to receive “unprecedented criticisms” of other pending decisions he had drafted as well as poor performance reviews, according to his lawsuit. He left work on a medical leave in June 2008, citing emotional distress and anxiety, and resigned six months later.

Paglia settled his lawsuit for $60,000 this April, a month before the case was set to go to trial...

“The system was rigged,” Paglia's attorney said. “When they didn’t like the decisions that would come down, they would order them changed.”

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/09/22/governor-patrick-says-sex-offender-officials-were-removed-for-mishandling-his-brother-law-case/gzVgQJcuHWBzlWyrQawXhO/story.html?_sp=311e28ee-22aa-4516-8a52-cd89bfef706e.1573757906450&hootPostID=6c8570ab97cfe7879ff18c1acccfa9ea&_sp=311e28ee-22aa-4516-8a52-cd89bfef706e.1573757906450&hootPostID=6c8570ab97cfe7879ff18c1acccfa9ea

This is something that Patrick will definitely need to address in the presidential campaign, but it's important to know that the story is not as cut and dried as it first may seem.

That's not what happened. The OP and many of the responses are misleading

He didn't fight to keep his brother-in-law off the list and didn't fire anyone for trying to get him to register.

After a state board ruled that his brother-in-law was not required by law to register as a sex offender because marital rape did not fall within the category of offenses to be included on the registry, a career hearing examiner upheld the decision, agreeing that the law did not require his registration.

Political appointees working for Patrick didn't like the decision and tried to force the hearing examiner to change it, an inappropriate and illegal interference in the legal process. When he refused, they retaliated against him and eventually pressured him to resign. The hearing examiner sued the state and received a settlement before the case went to trial.

This was not the first time that these appointees had engaged in such behavior. They had a long history of abusing their positions and violating law and procedure to try to force outcomes they wanted.

This was not an instance of Patrick intervening to help his family member or punish people for trying to enforce the law, as some people are claiming falsely. Patrick fired these political appointees, not because they tried to get his brother-in-law to register, but because they abused their positions and violated the law by trying to illegally pressure a hearing examiner to ignore the law.

This headline is false

He didn't fire anyone for trying to "force his brother-in-law to register." He fired them for violating the law by trying to force a hearing examiner to overturn a state board's decision that the law didn't require the brother-in-law to register.

That's a big difference.

If anyone is going to base an opinion of Patrick on his actions in that matter, it's important they have the facts straight. And if what he actually did was wrong, there's no need to mischaracterize his actions.