Deval Patrick Wins It!

I love voting. I feel that it's not only my duty to vote but, I feel privileged to do so. I love it even more that the Democrats are running strong again and my choice for Governor, Deval Patrick won overwhelmingly tonight.

Deval L. Patrick, who rose from poverty on the South Side of Chicago to
corporate boardrooms and a top position in President Clinton's administration,
won the Democratic Party's nomination for governor tonight,becoming the first African American to win a major party's nomination for the top job in the state.

Patrick easily won a three-way primary over two better-known rivals, Christopher F. Gabrieli and Thomas F. Reilly.

Reilly appeared before supporters at about 9:45 p.m. to congratulate Patrick for running an "outstanding campaign" and pledged to support Patrick. "We gave it everything we had. it just didnt work out for us,'' Reilly said.

A political unknown when his interest in the job became public in January 2005, Patrick captured the interest first of Democratic activists, winning the party caucuses in February of this year and then capturing the endorsement of the party convention in June.

Patrick now faces a tough, seven-week campaign that the state's Democratic leadership hopes will return the governor's office to the party's control for the first time since 1990. He will battle Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, who was unopposed for the Republican nomination, independent Christy Mihos, and Green Rainbow Party nominee Grace Ross.

The vote today ended the most expensive primary gubernatorial campaign in the state history, with the campaigns spending more than $15 million in television ads. Gabrieli, a wealthy venture capitalist who used more than $10 million of his personal funds for his campaign, spent $8 million on television advertising.

But a key factor in Patrick's victory appears to have been the field organization that he and his staff built, which drew heavily on the Internet. The strategy helped to deliver Patrick voters to the poll yesteday. But the campaign also was able to raise more than $1 million from its website.