Early one evening in the 1990s, at a decent interval from the time John Silber snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and handed the Massachusetts governership to William Weld, I telephoned Kevin H. White to see if he would chat about the campaign.
I was calling to test a theory, which I hoped might lead to a novel, if I found the time to sit down and write it.
Comments
I don't know how one would ever sort out the influence of the Jacobson interview from what a few have mentioned as another contributing cause of John Silber's defeat in his run for governor but I am persuaded that the interview effect could have been greatly mitigated were it not for the fact that the traditional Democratic Party machine's lack of energy on Silber's behalf for its own reasons.
By the time of this election John Silber's unpredictability, coupled with his only recent acquaintance with Democratic Party key leaders outside Boston, had to have played a part. The prospect, however undersirable, of a Republican governor with a history in state political life, almost certainly seemed less "dangerous" than a governor known for an unpredictable and tenacious advocate for his, to the traditional Democrats, "eccentric" views, can hardly have been warmly received. I doubt many of them were willing to do the hard work to get out their voters for him.
I make this comment only because it seems to me this "party energy" matter gets less attention than it deserves, possibly because one couldn't watch it on television.