Mayor Mobilizes for Clinton
Massachusetts Senators, Governor Favor Obama, but Menino Aims to Deliver the State

By Joel Achenbach
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 4, 2008

BOSTON -- Sen. Barack Obama has pulled off a Massachusetts trifecta. First he won the endorsement of the governor, Deval L. Patrick, and then the endorsement of Sen. John F. Kerry, the most recent Democratic presidential nominee. Finally he landed the icon of state politics, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

But he did not get Thomas M. Menino -- and Menino, the mayor of Boston, is the master of a powerful political machine that will try to deliver the state for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Menino can be found on the fifth floor of City Hall, in a spacious office with a spectacular view of Faneuil Hall. He has been in the office for 15 years by knowing where the votes are. "If you have a good ground game, get out the vote, that means two points on your total. Two points in a close election, that counts for a lot," the mayor says, and he does not need to add that his political operation last month dispatched 156 people to New Hampshire to work for Clinton, and that two points was roughly her margin.

Massachusetts is such a contested state that both Clinton and Obama are expected to make last-minute appeals here today. Polls have shown Clinton leading Obama by a substantial margin, but no one knows how Kennedy's endorsement last week might alter the situation. Kennedy's hoarse, full-throated speech on behalf of Obama at American University in Washington has become the main element of an Obama radio ad here.

If Clinton succeeds in winning the Democratic nomination, it will be in part because of the many years she has spent forging relationships with political power brokers such as the mayor.

Menino says he has supported the Clintons since "Day One," meaning the early 1990s. Three city councilmen and two district attorneys are part of the Clinton team here. The statewide operation includes 60 state representatives and 20 state senators, he says.

But Menino is cautious as he looks to Tuesday's vote. Only about 13 percent of the state's Democrats live in Boston, so even if he delivers in the tradition of James Michael Curley, the city's most celebrated mayor (he served as the model for the main character in Edwin O'Connor's novel "The Last Hurrah"), Clinton will still have to do well elsewhere in the state to win.

"Don't forget we have the governor, we've got two U.S. senators working against us here," Menino said. "But we're going to give it a good fight."

Boston may be saturated in history, but it's also a changing city -- certainly much different than the predominantly Irish Boston of Curley's time. Many of the working-class ethnics have fled the city for the suburbs. The neighborhoods where they lived such as South Boston and Jamaica Plain have seen a wave of gentrification. At the same time, there has been a dramatic increase in the Hispanic population, and the city is now 51 percent minority residents, Menino reports.

The mayor says that one in six residents are relative newcomers. And there is a booming young population, with one in three residents now between the ages of 18 and 34.

To a large extent the presidential primary has been overshadowed by football. Patriots-mania has dominated the headlines. "The first 20 pages are Patriots, Patriots, Patriots all the time," Menino said. Sunday's Boston Globe featured a front-page story about the presidential race, but it was at the very bottom of the page, crushed underfoot by a colossal Patriots package.

Super Tuesday? What's that? "Super Sunday is all we're concerned about," said bartender Andy Scott at the Playwright, a pub in South Boston.

Even in Boston, most people are not political junkies, and that might play in Clinton's favor. A number of Bostonians interviewed in recent days seemed to know relatively little about Obama. Clinton, by contrast, is a brand name.

Alyssa Donnelly, 19, who works in a coffee shop downtown, says she has not followed the campaign closely other than a quick peek the other day at CNN. But she says her background in a working-class Irish American neighborhood makes her more likely to vote for Clinton. "They were saying how she's going to help the working class. We're getting the shaft."

Manny Maherakis, 20, who works in his father's fast-food seafood stand in Quincy Market, also has not followed the race closely but likes Clinton. "I was a big fan of Bill Clinton, I guess. Economy was good. She can do better, I guess."

His co-worker Gregory Galvani, 23, says, "I always liked the Clintons. Like he said, Bill Clinton did a good job. Even though she'll be in charge if she wins, Clinton will be backing her and supporting her."

Many activist Democrats and party leaders long ago committed to Clinton and were caught off guard by Kennedy's endorsement of Obama.

"I was very surprised and disappointed," said Kay Khan, a state representative from Newton and a Clinton backer. "It certainly raises a lot of stress and distress and confusion for a lot of people."

It's hard to know how much endorsements matter. But here in Boston you get the sense that they matter more than in most places, because politics is not a solo sport. Unions are important, as are ethnic voting blocs. This is the kind of town where political operatives say things such as, "He's one of Menino's guys." Loyalty is currency here.

For Clinton backers, the Kennedy endorsement is awkward. Rep. Jim McGovern, who will campaign for Clinton, says of Kennedy: "He's one of my heroes. Having said that, I think what makes this situation rather unique is the Clintons have a special relationship with the people of Massachusetts. She's not a new face on the scene, and the Clintons were very good to Massachusetts, both Bill and Hillary."

There are, in fact, Republicans in Massachusetts, including one suburban Boston resident by the name of Mitt Romney, the former governor. But in certain neighborhoods of Boston, a registered Republican is likely to keep the brim of his hat down over his eyes. At Doyle's Cafe, the landmark watering hole in Jamaica Plain, longtime waiter Rick Berlin said he has been working on a documentary about the neighborhood. "We found two Republicans," he said.

Berlin supports Obama, in part because he is turned off by what he sees as the Clinton campaign's permanent war-room mentality. But he does not think Obama can break through with a victory here. "I think she'll take it, just out of deference," he said.

Doyle's is Irish the way a pint of Harp is Irish. One entire room is a shrine to Michael Collins, the Irish patriot. Vintage posters tell you to Buy War Bonds; a couple of others show the handsome face of a political candidate named John F. Kennedy.

But Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Obama might not make much difference even here in the heart of Kennedy Country. Luigi Debenedictis, 44, a mason, said, "Do you need Arnold Schwarzenegger or Kennedy making up your mind?"

Bartender Keith Douglas, 35, said he will stick with the Clinton brand name: "The previous Clinton administration, the economy was in a hell of a lot better shape than it is now."

There are no certainties. Barber Glenn Stubbs, eating a pizza at the bar, said his shop is on the North End, and many of his clients may cross over to the Republican side to vote for John McCain. "They can't bring themselves to vote for the woman or the black guy," Stubbs said.