Deval Patrick's strategy is becoming clearer everyday.
Recent stories revealing his weak-on-crime record have resulted in his lead being diminished substantially. Despite his lead in the polls, they also revealed that the voters agree with Kerry Healey on the issues, but for whatever reason, like Deval's image.
It then comes as no surprise that Deval has made negative campaigning a major topic of his campaign speeches and television ads. Deval even enlisted Martha Coakley, another weak on crime Democrat, to go negative for him in his latest television ad.
The ad characterizes Kerry Healey's "attacks" on Patrick as "inaccurate and misleading." Inaccurate? Did Deval Patrick not try to obtain a pardon for Ben LaGuer? Did Deval Patrick not donate $5,000 to him? Did Deval Patrick not come to the aid of convicted cop killer Carl Ray Songer? Coakley also claimed that "we've lost hundreds of police" during the Romney/Healey administration, a claim that has been debunked, but the Patrick-Murray campaign continues to present as accurate.
Coakley concludes by making the absurd claim that for Deval Patrick, crime is "a real problem to be solved," while for Kerry Healey it's "just another negative ad."
Never did Coakley dispute or defend Patrick's record, that wasn't the point. The point was to accuse Kerry Healey of misleading negative campaigning, while inserting more cliches and slogans like "Deval Patrick thinks crime is real problem to be solved," which sounds like it came from Chris Gabrieli's campaign.
In other words, Patrick is running from his record and is trying to make this campaign a referendum on negative campaigning, rather than about the issues. Why? Because Deval Patrick is on the wrong side of the issues and rather than call attention to his position on illegal immigration or his weak record on crime, he's trying to keep Kerry Healey's negatives high by demonizing her as just another negative campaigner.
If Deval thinks this strategy will work, then he's welcome to try... But he can't hide from his record for long.
