[goldfinch]

Baker is not a great prize -- but Deval Patrick is a terrible, terrible governor. And he is the closest thing we have to an Obama stand-in. I want Patrick thrown out of office as a symbol of how I feel about Obama.

You are exactly right about Patrick being a test-case Obama. Obama copied a lot of his 2008 rhetoric from Patrick. Defeating Patrick sends a strong message to the Democrats. If an Obama clone can not win in liberal Massachusetts in 2010, can Obama win nation-wide in 2012? I think a lot of Democrats would lose a lot of sleep over a lot of months pondering that question.

[AU72]

Patrick is promising a graduated income tax if he wins.

If a republican can't win running against that this year....