Charles D. Baker, the 2010 Republican nominee for governor of Massachusetts, dodged questions Tuesday about whether he would run for governor again in 2014, but sounded a lot like a candidate as he used a radio interview to talk up his management skills.
“I’m never going to be the great speechifier,” he said on WGBH-FM, a Boston public radio station. “But if you need to get something done that is complicated and difficult, I’m as good a guy as anyone at that.”
Baker, a business executive and onetime Weld administration official, is widely believed to be leaning toward another campaign for governor, particularly after Scott Brown, the former senator, recently announced that he would not seek the office.
Baker indicated he would reveal his plans sometime around Labor Day, but was coy about the exact timing of his announcement, saying, “I may even slip it till after Labor Day, who knows?”
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Brown’s presence has loomed over the Republican race for some time, and the former senator’s colorful antics have at times overshadowed the comparatively reserved Baker, who has largely avoided the public eye.
On the radio Tuesday though, Baker used a dose of self-deprecation to respond to several questions about Brown.
He said, for example, that he was jealous of Brown for getting to play on stage with the band Cheap Trick at a concert in New Hampshire. “I’m a huge Cheap Trick fan,” Baker said. “I’ve seen them in concert five or six times.”
But, he added, he wouldn’t be much help on stage.
“A man’s got to know his limitations,” Baker said. “I can’t sing. I can’t play an instrument. The closest I’m going to get to being on stage with Cheap Trick is being in the mosh pit.”
Baker also responded to a recent swipe that Brown took at him, when the former senator told a radio interviewer that Baker, despite other qualities, lacks personal charm.
“Is he Mr. Personality? No,” Brown said. “Everyone knows that. He’s not.”
Said Baker on Tuesday: “The good news is that I’ve got no place to go but up.”
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Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @mlevenson.