In Bay State, bare-knuckle battles only a memory

By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff, 11/06/2000

For a state that prides itself on its reputation for election-year brawls and characters as colorful as its foliage, the Massachusetts political landscape is unusually plain this autumn. Lawn signs are hard to find. Conversations at local diners and suburban cocktail parties rarely turn to the political chatter that normally precedes an election in this state.

And this political calm comes during a hard-fought presidential election year in which one of Massachusetts' US Senate seats is up for grabs. The state's 10 congressmen must stand for reelection. The 200 seats in the state House and Senate are on the line, as are the eight seats on the Governor's Council.

Former attorney general James Shannon, a veteran of some of the state's most lively campaigns, is struck by the lack of electricity in the air.

"More than any other year I can think of, politics in Massachusetts is a spectator's sport," Shannon said. "It's like being a Red Sox fan and watching the Subway Series. It is interesting but we are not part of it."

Voters will be asked to decide on more than a half a dozen ballot questions that could significantly change the way we receive our health care, prosecute our drug dealers, and pay our income tax and highway and bridge tolls.

But only in these closing weeks have competing TV and radio ads appeared. They have still done little to spark much public dialogue. Governor Paul Cellucci, in an unusual strategy to promote his income tax cut, has been debating his Democratic opponents, but with little public interest.

It's as if trees are falling in the woods and voters have chosen not to be there to hear them. This despite the fact that the fiscal impact of some of those ballot questions could be dramatic. The state could lose nearly $2 billion in revenues - or almost 10 percent of its budget. The health care system could be radically changed. The state's tough drugs law could be overhauled, and an industry - dog racing - could be abolished.

To be sure, there are several lively legislative races, but they are spotty. A tough battle has broken out for an open Senate seat on Cape Cod. A handful of incumbent lawmakers are facing spirited challenges.

But even those offices and county offices that in years past could set off a political dogfight have fallen below the radar screen.

Most seasoned political activists say the absence of campaign hoopla flows from the top. The presidential election is being fought elsewhere because Massachusetts is firmly in Vice President Al Gore's camp. US Senator Edward M. Kennedy, facing only nominal opposition, is keeping the lowest profile he has ever had in his 38 years of running for the seat, refusing even to debate his opponents and getting little flak for it. His brief election eve bus tour of in Eastern Massachusetts on Saturday stirred little media interest.

It's a profile that even got a strong endorsement from a usually contentious quarter, Dr. John Silber. The Boston University chancellor, who has a reputation for sparking virulent debates, suggested in a Globe column this year that Kennedy, because of his clout and value for Massachusetts, should not be required to face a reelection opponent.

Various other theories abound as to why Massachusetts has fallen silent during this election cycle. Good economic times, voter cynic ism, and a shift in attitudes among young people about public service are the most frequently cited.

Shannon, who was the center of some of the state's biggest campaign brawls in recent memory, has a particularly sensitive perspective. Once considered a rising political star in the 1970s, he served three terms in Congress before he ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate in 1984. He was elected attorney general in 1986 and was defeated four years later in a bitter primary battle.

He attributes the change to prosperous economic times and to a lack of international threats. With no heated issues, the public has no interest or passion for politics, and public service is not held in the same regard it was for young people 20 years ago.

"If you walked down the street in Boston, Lawrence, Lowell, or New Bedford and stopped someone and asked what is going on, they won't mention anything about the presidential race or local races, but they will mention the stock market," he said.

"In fact, you would be hard pressed to get into an argument with someone at a dinner party these days over politics," Shannon said. "I can't imagine people sitting around debating the fine points of George Bush's prescription drug programs versus Al Gore's."

Even in past years, such as 1992, when there were no state-wide races that could stir up political interest, the ballot questions had sparked debates and strong voter passion.

This year, much of the initiative petition process has been taken over by corporate and special interests that hired professional signature gatherers to get their questions on the ballot. In the past, the petition campaigns were driven by an insurgency of people angry at inaction on Beacon Hill. They usually involved thousands of volunteers and often stirred strong opposition.

Even the state's once vaunted tax cut movement, which dominated the initiative drives for the past 20 years, was reduced to hiring professional signature gatherers to qualify its income tax cut plan for the November ballot. Its leaders, who failed two years ago to get enough signatures using volunteers, are also depending heavily on Cellucci to finance the campaign by raising large corporate donations.

James Braude, a veteran political activist and Cambridge city councilor, says the tendency of voters to become turned off by heated rhetoric and to demand a more civil public discourse has in itself dulled their interest. He charts the decline in public participation to the decline in tough, spirited debates.

"Focus groups may say conflict is out of vogue," said Braude, who also cohosts a WTKK-FM talk show. "And as a result, I see and feel everywhere I go the average person becoming increasingly disengaged from the political process."

Others, including some GOP critics of Cellucci, blamed the state party and the governor for failing to put together a competitive slate of candidates to challenge the Democratic incumbents.

Todd Domke, a longtime Republican strategist, said Cellucci and his aides "botched" the opportunity to recruit a serious candidate to run against Kennedy. He laid part of the blame on the political problems that engulfed Cellucci and his lieutenant governor, Jane M. Swift, last spring.

"There was no hope of recruiting candidates in that climate," Domke said.

Secretary of State William F. Galvin, the state's chief election officer, said the combination of good economic times and cynicism among the public about politics has subdued the mood.

"People are approaching voting as a civic duty and not as a passionate pastime," said Galvin.