Obama stumps for Mass. governor

With polls showing the Massachusetts governor’s race in a dead heat,
President Obama traveled Saturday to Boston for a rally with Gov.
Deval Patrick (D).

During a speech at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Obama talked up Patrick as a man of “conscience and conviction.”

{mosads}A
recent Boston Globe poll had Patrick in a statistical tie with his
Republican challenger. The survey showed Patrick getting support from
35 percent of likely voters, compared with 34 percent for Republican
Charlie Baker. Treasurer Tim Cahill (I), a former Democrat, took 11
percent.

Shortly after starting his speech, protesters with signs that read
“Keep The Promise” and “Fight Global AIDS” started heckling the
president.

The crowd of more than 10,000 subsequently drowned
them down with chants of “four more years.” But minutes later, their
heckling started up again.

As Obama entered the part of his stump speech normally reserved for
bashing the GOP for wanting to go back to the same economic agenda, he
added a line about HIV/AIDS.

“And if they win, they will cut
AIDS funding right here in the United States of America,” he said,
according to the pool report. “Because we increased AIDS funding.”

He stared in the direction of the hecklers as he spoke.

Obama
also encouraged supporters to reelect Patrick, despite their
frustration over the economy. “I know it can be discouraging. But don’t
ever let anybody tell you this guy isn’t worth it,” Obama said. “He is
a man of unbending optimism with unyielding effort to move
Massachusetts forward.”

Patrick didn’t reference Obama for most of the speech, mentioning
only “hope was in short supply” in 2006. But toward the end Patrick
said, “I believe, and our guests today believe, in the politics of
conviction, not the politics of division.”

Before Obama spoke, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, Vicki Kennedy, Rep.
Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) warmed up the crowd.

Kerry criticized the slate of the Tea Party-backed candidates running for Senate.

“You got Sharron Angle out there in Nevada,” he said. “She wants to
phase out Social Security. You got Joe Miller up there in Alaska. He
thinks Social Security and Medicare and unemployment benefits are
unconstitutional. … You’ve got Carly Fiorina saying all this talk about
climate change is just a whole lot of fuss about the weather.”

He joked about how Delaware Republican Christine O’Donnell thinks she can “wave her wand and this will all disappear.”

“These people are coming at you folks,” he said.

After
the event, Obama went to the West Newton home of Caritas Cristi CEO
Ralph de la Torre to attend a fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial
Campaign Committee. The event, for which tickets ranged from $15,200 to
$30,400, was expected to raise $900,000.

During his speech at the fundraiser, Obama lamented Republican obstructionism over the last two years. He credited the GOP for a “smart tactical decision” that made the midterms tougher from Democrats. “I don’t anticipate that getting better next year. I anticipate that getting worse,” he said, according to the pool report.