| So. Earlier today (as noted by our own daclerk and somedem), the Globe told us (via an unnamed "Democratic strategist ... who is familiar with the talks") that Tom Reilly was planning a press conference at 10 a.m. Monday at which he would unveil his brand-new running mate: Shannon O'Brien's running mate! (That is, Chris Gabrieli.)
But now, only a few hours later, we hear (and so did framinghamdem) that Gabrieli has emailed the AP to tell them that he's not running for Lieutenant Governor after all. I guess we can cancel that podium for the press conference. Or maybe Reilly wasn't going to use one this time either.
Anyway, I think we can confidently state that January is a month that Tom Reilly and his campaign staff would like to forget. The month started out with the nightmarish "call to Conte" hitting the front pages, and with Reilly and his staff fanning the flames at every turn rather than putting out the fire. And then, just when Reilly's day job of being Attorney General gave him a little bit of good news with the Ameriquest settlement, suddenly he has this utterly embarrassing Gabrieli business, where his staffers are relaying the substance of supposedly secret talks to the Globe, to the point of giving out the date and time of the press conference, only to see the whole thing fall apart. If I were Tom Reilly, heads would be rolling over at campaign HQ. |
