On Friday, The Boston Globe came out with a poll which gave Republican Charlie Baker a 9 point lead over Democrat Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts gubernatorial race. 

While I suspect this poll is an outlier, I do think Baker will prevail. Baker is, of course, isn’t particularly conservative and has been trying to reach out to Democrats who are less than pleased their party nominated Coakley once again. In one of his campaign ads which features his daughter Caroline, she praises him for being “totally pro-choice”. But Baker is competent (having rescued the health insurer Harvard Pilgrim from bankruptcy) and this quality is always in short supply. On that count, Baker is infinitely better than Coakley. Having lost to Scott Brown in the special Senate election in 2010, I am not sure what possessed Democrats to nominate her yet again.