In
writing about the House Republican leadership contest for the
main site, I was reminded of the 1998 gubernatorial primary
between Paul Cellucci and Joe Malone in Massachusetts. The two
Republican statewide elected officials both wanted to be
governor. Bill Weld had left in an unsuccessful quest to become
Bill Clinton's ambassador to Mexico, thwarted by Jesse Helms.
This made Lt. Gov. Cellucci acting governor and gave him a leg up
in a contest where he and Malone, the state treasurer, might
otherwise have been more equally matched.
Malone decided he would run to the right of Cellucci in the
primary. It wasn't hard to do: By 1997, Weld's early fiscal
discipline had vanished into thin air. Now that the budget
deficits were gone and the Bay State economy was growing again,
Weld-Cellucci had revenues they could use to jack up state
spending even further. Cellucci was also, like Weld, a social
liberal. The Boston Herald columnist Don Feder even
reported that Cellucci had convinced Weld to take his far-left
position on abortion.
So Malone had Republican attack man Arthur Finklestein do ads
that made the race seem like a fight between Ronald Reagan and
Michael Dukakis. Malone was Reagan, Cellucci was Dukakis. There
was just one problem: in terms of actual policy substance, Malone
positioned himself just millimeters to the right of Cellucci.
Cellucci was pro-choice. Malone, a former pro-lifer, was
pro-choice but supported a few more restrictions on abortion.
Cellucci was for affirmative action. Malone favored affirmative
action under somewhat more limited circumstances. Cellucci was
for gun control, Malone was a little less for gun control. They
both wanted to roll the income tax rate back to 5 percent, but
Malone wanted to do it first.
Don't get me wrong: I voted for Malone in that primary. I'll take
a millimeter if that's the best I can get and there was at least
a chance Malone would prove even more conservative once in
office. But Cellucci won in no small part because Malone couldn't
convince many Republicans that the policy differences between the
two men were really as big as between Dukakis and Reagan.
