I looked around and haven't found anybody on MyDD writing about some exciting things happening in Massachusetts. Yesterday, Governor Deval Patrick unveiled his new website devalpatrick.com is a whole new way to use the netroots/grassroots not only to campaign, but to govern.

I would, of course, be remiss if I did not mention the lovely liveblogging at .08Acres or the conversation at Blue Mass Group. Also, here are some photos of the governor meeting with local bloggers.

So what does it mean to be a netroots governor? Follow me after the flip.

Yo, I heard it's said the revolution won't be televised
But in the land of milk and honey
There's a date you gotta sell it by
Otherwise it just expires and spoils....

The revolution's here
No one can lead you off your path
You'll try to change the world
So please excuse me while I laugh

-- lyrics from Talib Kweli's The Beautiful Struggle

Welcome to another look into the cross-section of race and politics in America. Things are getting down to the wire; the clock is running out on what we hope will be D-Day -- Democrats' Day -- on Nov. 7. Republicans are desperate and trying a new flava of fear -- instead of terrorism, it's fear of the brown, fear of the Other. Trouble is, this time, it's failing. People have stopped buying the Rethuglicans' bull and between Iraq, child sex predators, indictments and other assorted crimes and misdememors. Join the beautiful struggle and let's keep working towards a Nov revolution. Please excuse me while I laugh. --Jill

Lead Story: Tan Nguyen Gets His 15 Minutes of Fame

In the CA 47 race for Congress, Republican candidate tries to erode incumbent Rep. Loretta Sanchez's base by sending out a flyer to 14,000 Latino residents in her district that read in poorly written Spanish:

You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time, and you will be deported for voting without having a right to do so.

Nguyen quickly adopted the Hastert Defence: blame a staffer. He's been asked to withdraw by Orange County CA Republican party officials. But there's more to this story than meets the eye. Nguyen had been running on an anti-immigration platform and drew support from organized, "border security" racists on the fringe of the Republican party exemplified by Pat Buchanan. DailyKos Diarist Duke1676 has the best analysis on this I've read so far.

Meanwhile over at AsiansVote.com, they're encouraging local Asian Americans to do the right thing:

...the fact that [Nguyen's] campaign was involved eliminates him from any serious consideration by anyone with any commitment to democracy in America. Orange County readers, vote for Nguyen's opponent, Democrat Loretta Sanchez. BTW, Jim Webb's campaign has had its ups and downs with VA black folk(mostly up right now post-Barack Obama visit), but hanging out at AsiansVote.com, I learned Webb's got strong cred in VA's Vietnamese-American community. Also, Tammy Duckworth, Asian-American Iraq war veteran, got a big boost in her run for IL 6 with an endorsement from the Chicago Tribune.

It's a grey Saturday here at Jack and Jill Politics. The perfect weather to spend listening to the soothing bluesy sounds of "The Incredible Jimmy Smith" album: Back at the Chicken Shack. Don't take my word for it. It says right on the cover art over the chicken coop and above the black-and-white dog in big red letters that he's incredible.

First a word: Jack and Jill Politics is looking for local minority-authored blogs to start building a blogroll. We want to find more progressive blogs covering politics in the states like CTBlogger (CT), Where Is the Outrage (NC), Vivian Paige (VA) and Black At Michigan (MI) with voices that can add new perspectives. If you are a local minority blogger or know a local minority blog that deserves a little more attention, please leave the link in the comments or email us at jjpolitics at gmail.com. Thanks in advance!

Mama's got a lot to do today and I bet you do too. So I'm gonna hit you with some quick links to check out in our weekly roundup of what's happening at the crossroads where minorities and politics meet.

* First, this Mark Foley Predatorgate coverup thing is not partisan despite Republican efforts to make it so. That's why they are going to lose and lose big in the elections. It's not Democrat vs. Republican; it's Right vs. Wrong. The cover-up caused even conservative Christian Black blogger La Shawn Barber to dig deep and question her loyalty to the current GOP leadership. Furthermore, Wanda Sykes would like you to know that Foley is giving alcohol a bad name. (Thanks to the Huffington Post for the link!) I would like to know why Mark Foley is in rehab and  not in jail. Isn't what he did somehow against some law somewhere?

* Republic of T breaks it down on attempts to connect homosexuality and pedophilia. This is wrong and ignorant, Margaret Cho agrees. Hopefully, pastors will keep that in mind in church this Sunday. Let's keep the hate where it belongs: directed at child molesters and not at the GLBT community, ok?

More after the jump...

It is over in Massachusetts:

Survey USA, 9/19-9/21, 608 LVs. 9/19 interviews began when polls closed on Tuesday.
Patrick: 64%
Healy 25%
Mihos: 5%
Other 4%
Undecided: 2%

Time to govern with a progressive trifecta.

Update: As I am sure everyone knows, the key for Patrick had to do with his moderate stances: voting for the bankruptcy bill, legalizing torture, keeping Bush's tax cuts, opposing gay marriage, etc. Oh wait--he didn't do any of that. So much for someone being less electable because they are progressive, as other candidates in the primary had directly implied.

Unofficial results of the Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial primary from the Associated Press:

• Last Update: Boston Globe - "Deval Patrick Wins Easily"
• ***BREAKING***: The AP calls it for Patrick.
• 40.86 percent reporting: Patrick 47.16 - Gabrieli 29.23 - Reilly 23.60.
• Quick update: Channel 38 indeed calls the race for Patrick
• 19.62 percent reporting: Patrick 47.86 - Gabrieli 29.44 - Reilly 22.70. A reader in the comments reports that a local news station has called the race for Patrick. Another reader is covering the returns with city-by-city breakdown at his own blog. We're getting close, but there are still a lot of votes to be counted..
• 15.79 percent reporting: Patrick 48.28 - Gabrieli 29.42 - Reilly 22.30
• 10.99 percent reporting: Patrick 47.88 - Gabrieli 29.93 - Reilly 22.19. Looks like things are generally holding at this point. Unless the first 11 percent of precincts are significantly different than the rest (which is a possibility), Patrick should be able to hold on for a fairly decent victory.
• 7.53 percent reporting: Patrick 50.12 - Gabrieli 28.86 - Reilly 21.03
• 3.42 percent reporting: Patrick 50.31 - Gabrieli 29.53 - Reilly 20.15
• 1.89 percent reporting: Patrick 51.79 - Gabrieli 29.14 - Reilly 19.07
  

I'll continue to update the results as they come in -- at least until the point at which we can safely predict the winner (which might come even earlier in the evening that we previously expected).

As primary season really draws to a close this week, movement candidate Deval Patrick looks very solid to win the Democratic nomination for Governor in Massachusetts on Tuesday, and Daniel Akaka seems set to stave off a right-wing challenge from Ed Case on Saturday. That works for me, because I do not want to expend any more energy thinking about Democratic primaries this year. First, Massachusetts: That huge, pro-Patrick movement is remarkable. Patrick also had a sizable lead in the latest State House News poll. All three major Democrats in the race hold leads outside the margin of error in the general election, so it now looks likely that Deval Patrick will become the next Governor of Massachusetts. That works for me. Patrick would be the first movement candidate with an opportunity to govern with a Democratic trifecta. Update: This might apply to Brian Schwietzer in Montana as well.

Also, Daniel Akaka seems safe in Hawaii: This is actually a slight improvement for Akaka since June, when he led 51-40 in the same poll. The pre-primary cash report showed both candidates nearly broke, so I'm not expecting much movement here. Akaka should win by five to eight points.

Combine this with the MD-04 provisional ballot count tomorrow, and at long las thte primary season will end this week. From TX-28, to IL-06, to CA-50, to the local races in PA, to MT-Sen, to VA-Sen, to CT-Sen, to GA-04, to RI-Sen, MD-Sen, WI-08, AZ-08, and many, many more races, I feel absolutely gorged on primaries this year. We have been eating appetizers for too long. Let's get going with the main event.

[My union, the Massachusetts Society of Professors, has invited all six MA-Gov candidates to talk to us.  I reported on Christy Mihos' appearance on 30 May, and on 27 June we hosted Grace Ross, the candidate of the Green-Rainbow Party.  She spoke to about twelve people in the Campus Center at UMass Amherst.  We have had contacts with two of the three Democratic candidates but have arranged on visits yet.  Disclosure: I'm a member of the MSP board and a Patrick supporter.  I missed the first half-hour of her appearance but am gratefully making use of notes from Ferd Wulkan.]

Grace Ross has absolutely no chance of becoming governor of Massachusetts in 2006.  She is running, it seems clear to me, to develop her party and her movement, and to provide a model of a different kind of politics and a different kind of politician.  The Green-Rainbow movement is based on resistance to corporate power, environmentalism, and racial justice ("If white folks don't figure out how to move from dominance to partnership, we are in trouble.").  She went out of her way to answer a question no one specifically asked:  "Can I win?  At some point we have to decide [to confront the problems I have identified].  If we wait four years, they will all be worse."

I think that as ambassador for her party and movement, she succeeded.  Her critiques of current policies and her proposals for solutions were grounded in reality -- both factual and political reality, since there is a significant bloc of "progressives" in the legislature already.  I was particularly impressed with her command of technical issues, and was surprised when she told me afterward that she has no technical background other than a career in union and political organizing.  I would have believed that she had been a doctor or engineer, for example.

After the jump are some specific points from the dialogue -- statements from Ross not in quotes are my paraphrase:

Independent MA-Gov candidate Christy Mihos spoke to about twenty UMass Amherst employees and students in Amherst on 30 May.  He was invited by the Massachusetts Society of Professors, the faculty union -- he initiated the contact and the MSP has since invited all the other candidates to meet.  (I'm on the MSP board.)

It's very unlikely that I'll vote for anyone but the Democrat in the general election, and that was probably true for most of the other people in the room, but it's good to get Mihos' perspective.  He was particularly interested in speaking at UMass because he was a trustee of the five-campus system for five years, appointed by Weld and "fired by Swift" (his words).  He promised that if elected governor, he would make himself ex officio chair of the UMass board, cut the UMass president's office to better support the campuses, and honor contracts with UMass employees.  He spoke of his practice as trustee to gather students, etc., to tell him about the real problems of the university, just as he would actively gather input from his store managers.

Mihos' life story is the basis of his candidacy -- he built a small family business into a large chain of convenience stores and entered public service through the board of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.  He said that he had been ahead of the curve in noting the corruption and inefficency of the Big Dig project, trying to get Bechtel removed as primary contractor.  He was forced out of his position by Swift -- as he described it, Swift tried to remove him directly, was rebuffed by the courts, and then was able to appoint enough new members to remove him as chair with the collusion of the legislature.  He characterized his tenure as support of the public interest in opposition to "big labor, big media, big business, and big government".