As final debate looms, O'Brien tries to link Romney to past GOP governors [MA]

BOSTON - Some days, it seems like Democrat Shannon P. O'Brien is running for governor against former Republican Govs. William F. Weld and Paul Cellucci, not Mitt Romney.

O'Brien, the state treasurer, has tried throughout the campaign to link Romney to the mistakes of past Republican administrations. At a forum on minority issues on Monday, she blamed Republicans for everything from failing to give Big Dig contracts to minority businesses to failing to stop social service cuts after pushing through an income tax cut.

''We've heard Republican promises before,'' O'Brien told a largely black crowd of about 1,300 at the New Covenant Christian Church, in the city's Mattapan neighborhood.

A Boston Herald poll published Tuesday showed O'Brien leading Romney 44 percent to 38 percent, while the three third-party hopefuls had no more than 4 percent. The poll of 421 likely general election voters, taken Friday to Sunday by RKM Research and Communication, has a plus or minus margin of 4.8 percent.

The poll showed O'Brien leading among both men and women, ahead 43-41 percent among male voters. She also has a nine-point lead over Romney when those surveyed were asked who has the best experience to be governor.

Green Party candidate Jill E. Stein got 4 percent, while Libertarian Carla Howell and independent Barbara C. Johnson had 1 percent each.

As Romney and O'Brien head into their last televised debate on Tuesday, one week before Election Day, Romney is continuing to play up his outsider image, trying to separate himself from the GOP governors who have held office since 1991, from Weld to Cellucci to Jane M. Swift.

''I'm not a continuation of the past,'' said Romney, the former Winter Olympics chief and venture capitalist, who referred to himself as a ''nonpolitician.'' ''To lump me in with the past is just wrong.''

O'Brien and Romney appeared with the three other gubernatorial candidates at Monday's forum, which was hosted by the Black Ministerial Alliance of greater Boston.

Latinos and blacks comprise 12 percent of Massachusetts residents, but all 12 members of the state's congressional delegation are white, as are all five statewide constitutional officers and all eight members of the Governor's Council. Every mayor in the state is white, too.

Minority voters in urban areas have been ''largely ignored'' in the campaign because they don't have the money to attract candidates, said Kelley Rice, alliance spokeswoman.

O'Brien said as governor, she would reduce the infant mortality rate among minorities, and hire black and Latino staffers to create ''an administration that looks like the face of Massachusetts.''

Romney said he would make sure minority businesses have equal opportunities for state government contracts, just as he said he did at the Olympics. He said he would create incentives for more building permits to be issued to create affordable housing for urban residents.

Stein, a Harvard-trained medical doctor, said one way to keep many urban youth out of jail is to treat minor drug offenses as a public health problem instead of a criminal offense. She said the state should enact universal health care, which would treat drug offenders instead of jailing them.

Howell said urban communities could be made safer by eliminating restrictions on gun ownership and allowing residents to defend themselves against criminals.

Johnson called for reforming the court system that she said unfairly punishes fathers in child custody cases. She said the court system victimized the man accused in the Washington-area sniper shootings, John Allen Muhammad, who lost his children when he and his wife divorced.

''There was a man abused by the system,'' Johnson said. ''He snapped, there's no question.''

A poll on Monday showed O'Brien leading Romney, 41 to 39 percent. The poll of 400 likely voters, conducted by New England Cable News and Harvard University's Institute of Politics from Thursday to Monday, had a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.

Stein was preferred by 5 percent of respondents, while Howell and Johnson each received 3 percent.

Tuesday's televised debate will be the fifth of the campaign, and the third featuring only Romney and O'Brien. Some observers said the debate will be crucial, given the large number of still undecided voters and polls showing Romney and O'Brien running nearly even.

O'Brien told a largely black crowd of about 1,300 at the New Covenant Christian Church, in the city's Mattapan neighborhood. ...???????????
Why is it that Dems can speak to churches and the Republcans miss this opportunity? The double standard here will lead to a defeat for the Republicans who should have included working with pro life churches months ago.

IT'S 7 DAYS UNTIL THE ELECTION.

WILL IT STILL BE HER SENATE?

GOOD INTENTIONS DON'T WIN ELECTIONS.
ACTION DOES. ACT TODAY.

TakeBackCongress.org

A resource for conservatives who want a Republican majority in the Senate

Black churches have in essence received a free pass from removal for tax-exempt status on account of political activism. Democrats do not do so because black churches by and large work as an adjunct of the Democratic Party in black neighborhoods; the GOP fears the label of racist were it to attempt removal of tax-free status. Conservative churches, on the other hand, have reason to fear taking stands from the pulpit because, at least when the Democrats are in power, the IRS does not hesitate to harrass such congregations and impel them to pay taxes because a GOP candidate spoke with the pastor's blessing at a Sunday service or the church organized a picket line at a local abortion clinic.

This is a screamingly unfair double standard, but one that will continue until the Internal Revenue Code is changed or the Republicans develop a spine and apply the law uniformly to both liberal black and conservative white churches.

Unfortunately, neither even appears likely in the short run.

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