As he addressed his supporters at Copley Square last night, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Deval Patrick claimed that his victory was a triumph for grassroots politics.
"Thanks to you, we turned a political campaign into a movement for change," Patrick said, who easily won the Democratic primary with 50 percent of the vote. "You knew that a grassroots campaign wasn't supposed to win, but you also knew that was precisely the kind of politics we have to change in Massachusetts."
Venture capitalist Christopher Gabrieli (28 percent) and Attorney General Thomas Reilly (23 percent) trailed Patrick all evening before conceding the election at approximately 10:30 p.m.
Tufts students formed a part of those grassroots, as Democrats here formed a special relationship with Patrick that eluded both of his opponents. Most Tufts students are not registered as Massachusetts voters and so did not vote today, but many are politically active. Those students that did intern, hold signs and call phone banks favored Patrick by a wide margin.
While the Tufts Democrats chapter never officially supported a candidate, President Kayt Norris acknowledged that Patrick had always been the frontrunner for the group.
"[Patrick] definitely had the overwhelming support among Tufts students," Tufts Democrats President Kayt Norris said. "When he speaks, he talks about vision for the future, and ... he talks about new leadership and [a] new vision for Massachusetts politics, so he had a vision that young people could get excited about."
Perhaps more important than his charisma was the fact that Patrick spoke at Tufts three times during his campaigns, something that Gabrieli and Reilly never did.
Patrick visited Tufts for the first time last spring, when he delivered the keynote speech to the Massachusetts College Democrats Convention being hosted at Tufts. He held a press conference at Tufts later that semester, and most recently spoke to a packed Cabot Auditorium on Sept. 10.
One reason for Patrick's visibility at Tufts: He had a man on the inside. Tufts' very own Mitch Robinson has worked as Patrick's college coordinator throughout the campaign in addition to his duties here as Tufts Community Union (TCU) President.
Members of the Tufts Democrats say that, without Robinson's presence, Patrick supporters would not have been as prevalent at Tufts.
"Had Mitch not been involved in the campaign, the majority of campus would still be for Deval, but not in the numbers we are now," Norris said. "Because Mitch was here, he got Deval to campus and hired a lot of interns who spread the word to their friends."
Junior Nate Grubman, a member of the Tufts Democrats, agreed that Robinson's efforts increased Patrick's name recognition at Tufts.
"Patrick just has a lot more energy on college campuses in general, and especially on our campus, because Mitch has been working really closely with him from the beginning," Grubman said.
Robinson himself recognizes how useful it is for candidates to establish a base of support at universities. "A lot of candidates - and I think this hurt Gabrieli and Reilly - didn't see the need for reaching out to college campuses ... because they didn't see students as voters," he said. "But what college students are and always will be are bodies that stand for change and progress."
Reilly and Gabrieli supporters existed on campus, though in fewer numbers. Senior Emily Dix worked on Reilly's campaign this summer.
"Obviously, we want a Democrat in office, because there hasn't been one for 16 years," Dix said yesterday. "I chose to work for Reilly, because I believed he would win the primary. But, I will try to work for Deval or Gabrieli if they do win."
Dix said that Patrick's presence on Facebook.com helped him gain support and name recognition on campuses. As Attorney General, Reilly prosecuted cases involved in Myspace.com. Dix says that this prevented him from becoming active on Facebook.com for fear of seeming hypocritical.
"It made us lose a lot of the student vote," Dix said. "In a primary, a lot of it is about name recognition. If someone's on Facebook, people will recognize his name more than someone else's."
The global Facebook group "Deval Patrick for Massachusetts Governor" has 3,938 members. The group "Gabrieli for Governor" has 422 members. Reilly has no such group.
Recent Tufts graduate Dave Mitchell (LA '06) worked for the Gabrieli campaign as a Deputy Director of Operations and represented Gabrieli in an on-campus debate with Dix and Robinson on Sept. 12.
Mitchell said that Gabrieli's late entrance in the race prevented him from gaining the kind of grassroots support that Patrick enjoyed, forcing him to rely on the media to get his message out.
"I personally admired Deval's grassroots organization, and if it's not Gabrielli tonight, Deval would be my second choice," Mitchell said yesterday afternoon.
The general election will take place on Nov. 7, when Patrick faces off against his Republican opponent, Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey.
Guberbatorial Primary Results (with 84 percent of precincts reporting) Deval Patrick 50% Christopher Gabrieli 28% Tom Reilly 23%
