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Mass. Democrats
endorse gay marriage
By Raphael Lewis and
Frank Phillips, boston.com from the Web. May 15, 2005
LOWELL -- Moments after state
Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly urged his fellow Democrats to broaden their
appeal beyond their liberal base, delegates to Massachusetts Democratic Party
yesterday voted overwhelmingly to endorse gay marriage in their platform.
Reilly, one of three likely gubernatorial candidates to address the convention,
told the crowd of more than 2,500 delegates that it was crucial to win back
moderate suburban voters who have helped elect Republican governors over the
last 15 years.
''We have to convince ordinary people that we understand what's going on in
their lives," Reilly said, ''and that we can help make their lives better."
Reilly did not mention gay marriage in his speech and refused in an interview
afterward to say whether he supported the platform change. He has said
recently that he now supports gay marriage, after he indicated last year that he
preferred permitting gay and lesbian couples to join in civil unions rather than
full-fledged marriage.
The convention gave dyed-in-the-wool Democrats their first chance to size up the
party's three gubernatorial candidates: Reilly, former US assistant
attorney general Deval Patrick, and Secretary of State William F. Galvin, who
has yet to make a formal announcement of his candidacy.
Patrick struck a number of ideological themes that energized the liberal core
that dominates Democratic convention crowds. He declared his support for
gay marriage and decried Republican Governor Mitt Romney's call for an income
tax rollback and the governor's campaign to bring back the death penalty.
The speech was interrupted several times by applause and ended in a standing
ovation.
''When somebody tells you we can't win back the corner office with a candidate
who hasn't paid his political dues and stored up his political chits on Beacon
Hill, what are you going to say?" Patrick said. The crowd roared back,
''Yes, we can!"
Galvin said he would be a governor who works solely for Massachusetts and not to
achieve higher office -- a shot at Romney and his Republican predecessors
William F. Weld and Paul Cellucci, who both used the corner office as a
springboard for federal posts.
''After 20 years of neglect by a succession of dilettante Republican governors,"
Galvin said, ''we're witnessing nothing less than the crushing of
Massachusetts."
Tim O'Brien, executive director of the state Republican Party, dismissed the
criticism.
''It was liberal candidates talking about their left-wing agenda to a group of
people that don't represent the average voters of Massachusetts," O'Brien said
in a telephone interview.
The gay-marriage plank was approved as part of a voice vote that also approved
the party's entire platform. The vote, which capped the Democrats'
convention at the Paul E. Tsongas Arena in Lowell, left the Bay State Democratic
Party the third in the nation to back same-sex marriage, staking out an
ideological position that puts it in contrast with most of the nation and the
platform of the Democratic National Committee.
There was a smattering of no votes in the crowd of delegates, but no one spoke
out against the platform change. A total of 2,538 delegates were
registered at the convention.
The addition to the Democratic Party's platform reads: ''We affirm our
commitment to the Massachusetts constitutional guarantee to same-sex marriage,
and all of its rights, privileges, and obligations, and reject any attempt to
weaken or revoke those rights."
Previously, the platform endorsed civil unions.
For the most part yesterday, the partisan rhetoric was fairly tame. US
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who is up for reelection next year, chided President
Bush for being out on his mountain bike while an errant Cessna aircraft forced
the evacuation of Congress and most of official Washington.
Instead of focusing on the gay-marriage plank, most eyes were trained on the
three seeking the governorship. One will try to give the Democrats their
first win in a governor's race since 1986, when Michael S. Dukakis won a
landslide victory over GOP candidate George Kariotis.
In recent months, Romney's popularity has waned in the state, as he has tested
the presidential waters by traveling out of state and stepping up his
conservative rhetoric. A poll conducted late last month by the University
of Massachusetts at Lowell indicated that 33 percent of those surveyed thought
Romney deserved to be reelected, a 10-point slide from a poll on the same
question in January. Other polls have indicated Reilly holding an
advantage over Romney in a hypothetical head-to-head contest as well.
Still, Romney's victory in 2002 over Democrat Shannon O'Brien was due in large
part to his popularity among independent voters in the vast suburban ring around
Boston.
For Reilly, his speech was in many respects a triumph compared with the 2003
convention, when he was booed by the party faithful.
Patrick, who remains a virtual unknown to many Bay State voters, appeared to
instantly connect with the delegates.
But Patrick said he agreed with Reilly that the party must broaden its appeal if
it is to win back the corner office, and he agreed with the national party
chairman, Howard Dean, that the gubernatorial candidates must conduct a civil
campaign that leaves the ultimate winner in a strong position to beat the
Republican nominee.
Interviews with some of the few undecided Democrats in the arena yesterday
indicated that Reilly, Patrick, Galvin, and other potential candidates such as
US Representative Michael E. Capuano of Somerville have a long way to go before
they can count on their party's nomination.
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