Baker doesn’t alienate Trump voters
When I bumped into Gov. Charlie Baker at the elevator on the way to his Statehouse office the other day, I said, “Governor, can I ask you a trick question?” “What is it?” “If I was on that WGBHTV debate panel the other night, I would have asked, ‘Governor, can you name your opponent’s running mate?’” Nonplussed and on top of his game, Baker replied, “Quentin Palfrey.” He was right, and he is one of the few people I have come across who knew the answer. Quentin Palfrey, the Democrat candidate for lieutenant governor, is the mystery man of the 2018 election. Nobody knows who he is. He is not to be confused with Jay Gonzalez, the Democratic candidate for governor. As one reporter said, “Jay Gonzalez is no Quentin Palfrey.” What surprised me was that Baker came up with the answer without any of the hesitation he showed in the prior television debate question about whether he would vote for Geoff Diehl for the U.S. Senate. Diehl, a state representative from Whitman, is a fellow Republican who is running against Sen. Elizabeth Warren. In 2016, he was Donald Trump’s Massachusetts campaign co-coordinator. Baker, a sharp Trump critic, not only distanced himself from Trump, he distanced himself from people associated with Trump, like Geoff Diehl. Asked if he would vote for Diehl, Baker said he was undecided. Later, when he came to his senses, Baker said he had misspoken and that he indeed will vote for Diehl. Left-wing Democrats and reporters (same thing) have made it a crime to have voted for Trump, let alone to still support him. These days, when a reporter confronts a Republican candidate for any office in Massachusetts, he is immediately asked. “Did you vote for Trump?” If the answer is yes, the Republican is automati- cally suspected of being a racist and a misogynist. But Democratic candidates are never asked if they voted for Hillary Clinton, which is odd since Trump got so many Massachusetts Democrats to vote for him. You just know that some of those Democratic mayors and legislators who endorsed Baker in his latest television ad quietly voted for Trump, and they are quiet with good reason. Politicians who supported Trump, and people who voted for him, have been smeared by leftists in and out of the media, forgetful or ignorant of the fact that 1 million voters in Massachusetts cast their ballots for Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Some 1.3 million voted for Hillary Clinton. Democratic Party leaders and the media elite hold Trump supporters in contempt. Hillary Clinton called them “deplorables,” and Joe Biden characterized them as “the dregs of society.” Baker is wiser than both Clinton and Biden. While he may have nothing but disdain for Trump, he has been careful not to alienate Trump voters. He may not woo them, but he does not insult them either. So he’s voting for Diehl. Baker, a Republican in a Democrat state, needs all the Democratic and Independent votes he can get if he is to win by a substantial margin, as expected. Baker has run a skillful campaign. He is a moderate Republican who has attracted a lot of support among independent and Democrat- ic moderates who feel abandoned by a Democratic Party that has gone socialist and been radicalized by the loony left. An example of how Baker has appealed to both Republicans and Democrats is in the 3rd Congressional District, where Republican Rick Green, a businessman from Pepperell, is running against Democrat Lori Trahan of Westford, who has roots in Lowell. Incumbent U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas did not seek re-election. Baker earlier this month came to Green’s aid when he appeared at a ribbon-cutting for a new location of Green’s 1A Auto firm. He said Green was the type of leader Washington needed. Then, at the same event, he also praised Trahan. What Baker did not mention was that Lori Trahan and her husband, both Democrats, have donated substantially to Baker’s campaign. In 2015, Lori Trahan and her husband David, donated $1,000 each to Baker. David donated another $500 in July 2017. Charlie Baker covers all the bases.