As we get into Labor Day, our campaign has launched a new television ad featuring YOU – the people who have had enough of the higher taxes, reckless spending and job losses under Governor Patrick and Treasurer Cahill. You’ve all been here – you understand what it’s been like, and we have to take Massachusetts in a new direction if we’re going to get people back to work and make Massachusetts more affordable for families and businesses.

Check out our new ad here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W93a2RqN6vg&feature=player_embedded

Today also brought news of a new poll from Rasmussen Reports, showing the race within two points between myself and Governor Patrick, at 42% to 44%, respectively, with Treasurer Cahill earning just 8% of the vote.

The poll also has some other highlights:

• We are getting the support of 53% of independent voters.
• Governor Patrick earns approval from 46% of the state’s voters, down four points since late July. Fifty-two percent (52%) disapprove of his performance. Those figures include 21% who Strongly Approve and 33% who Strongly Disapprove.
• 52% of respondents say they’ll vote against Patrick when first asked while 50% say the same when leaners are included.
• Only 6% rate the U.S. economy as good or excellent while 62% say it’s poor. Twenty-three percent (23%) say it’s getting better while 46% say it’s getting worse.

As you can see, this race is going to get closer and closer as Election Day approaches, so we’re going to need everyone to dive in and do everything they can for the next 60 days. This is game time folks – and I hope you’re all as excited as I am for this final stretch!!

Stay safe this weekend from Hurricane Earl, and Happy Labor Day!

Charlie

We’ve had a lot of news this week and have a lot to look forward to, so I want to get right into a major new aspect of our campaign that we’re hoping a lot of you will be part of. On Tuesday night, August 24 at 7 pm I’ll be hosting a conference call only for Team Baker members to introduce our new “Connect to Win” phone outreach program. This new tool has never been used before in Massachusetts and is an integral part to our grassroots strategy this fall. We’re trying to reach 20,000 voters in one night following this conference call, so please join if you can and give an hour of your time. It’ll be worth it!

We are so fortunate for the outreach being done by volunteers across the state. We’re making thousands of calls every week and you are all to thank! A special thanks to Peter Solomon from Wakefield for leading the way on calls from home last week – Peter made more than 500 calls in one week. Also, congrats to Christine Hezzey from Ipswich for reaching the 1,000 calls from home milestone. You guys are great!!

Check out this week’s installment of On the Road with Charlie: Week of August 15th, 2010

As you’ll see in our video recap from this week, all four gubernatorial candidates got together on Monday night for the first debate of the season. There will be many more to follow, but this was a great chance to see everyone together and really see the differences between the candidates, though the debate was focused on Cape Wind. We should not be doing anything right now in Massachusetts that will raise the cost of living or running a business. That’s what Cape Wind will do and that’s why I’m against it. Let’s not forget, there are more than 150,000 fewer people working today than when Deval Patrick took office, and more than 312,000 people total in Massachusetts out of work. We have to get serious about lowering costs and creating jobs. Deval Patrick and Tim Cahill have not done that, and I will. It’s that simple.

Don’t forget about Tuesday night’s conference call with me. To participate please use the number below.  And to sign up to participate in the “Connect to Win” program immediately following the conference call please click here: https://bakerforgov.wufoo.com/forms/connect-to-win/

Dial In Number:  (888) 356-3090

Team Baker Access Code:  Ext.15396#

Charlie

Before I jump into my Friday update, I’d like to wish my good friend and running-mate Richard Tisei a Happy 48th Birthday today. Richard and I are working incredibly hard these days all across the Commonwealth to make sure people know that we have the plans to turn Massachusetts around.

In honor of Richard’s 48th birthday, please click here to donate $48 to the Tisei Committee and show your support.

I know many of you are finishing up your vacations and getting ready (can it be already) to get the kids back to school, and for us here at the campaign – things are really heating up, and it feels great!! Richard and I, no matter where we go, continue to be amazed by the people we meet and the stories we hear. We meet people every day who have lost their job, who run a business and are hanging on by a thread in Massachusetts, and who know they can’t grow their business here without a serious change in the business climate. Massachusetts needs a serious change and they need someone in charge who will say no to the higher spending and higher taxes, and who will say no to the unions and special interests. That’s us, folks.

During the next 81 days we’re going to hear Deval Patrick talk a lot about things that haven’t happened while he’s been governor. He likes to change the subject – A LOT! It’s not surprising he does that, given his record of tax increases, lost jobs and reckless spending, but his record is catching up with him and we’re going to make sure he answers for it because these are the issues people care about after all.

As with every week, we were busy on the campaign trail.

Check out our recap and highlights here: On the Road with Charlie: Week of August 8th, 2010

I must give a BIG shout out to the families we met last weekend at the Southwick Zoo in Mendon – 600 people came out to meet us and hear about our plans to turn Massachusetts around. A special thanks to Kim Roy for organizing the event!

Charlie

Richard and I traveled out to Western Massachusetts again this week, and like most other stops we make across the Commonwealth, the people we talk to are concerned about the 100,000 jobs Massachusetts has lost, the eight taxes that have gone up under Governor Patrick, and the rise in state spending that has no end in sight. News this week that consumer confidence in July dropped to its lowest level since last October, business confidence fell, and for the third straight month single-family homes and condos put under agreement declined, are all further evidence that Massachusetts needs a change. Governor Patrick’s policies have failed the taxpayers and if we don’t take our state in a new direction, it will only get worse.

Click here to see video: On the Road with Charlie: Week of August 1st, 2010

Our volunteers are continuing to kick it into high gear, using the Team Baker Online Action Center to make calls from home and identify hundreds of new supporters every day. If you haven’t yet, go here and sign up to take part in the action.

Super volunteer Deb Genatossio remains atop the leader board and is closing in on an impressive 2,500 calls from home! And congratulations to Peter Solomon and Desiree Awiszio, who each surpassed the 1,000 calls from home threshold this week.

Keep up the good work!

Every call – and every vote – counts!

Charlie

Beacon Hill has been handicapped for the past few weeks because legislators could not reach an agreement on how to legalize casino gaming. The unions started putting on the pressure and Beacon Hill started to panic. Well, I think they should panic because they haven’t done anything to deal with the budget crisis they already have this year, or the $2.5 billion hole they have coming for next year! It’s amazing how Governor Patrick, Treasurer Cahill and the rest of Beacon Hill can ignore the commonsense reforms that will save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars just because the unions don’t approve. I’ve had enough of that.

Education and the high standards Massachusetts put into place nearly two decades ago continue to be high on my mind and the minds of many voters we talk to. We released a new Conversations with Charlie video this week on that topic you can see by clicking here.  I intend to do everything I can if I’m elected to reverse the ridiculous path Governor Patrick has put Massachusetts on that will erode much of the progress our students have made. I stood with dozens of parents, teachers and educators earlier this week to make that exact point – that event is highlighted on this week’s recap video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpBbfmEOuXI&feature=channel

We’re having a blast this summer meeting new people at festivals and fairs and telling them about our ideas for the Commonwealth at town hall events just about every weekend. Thanks to everyone for coming out and supporting us – we couldn’t be doing this without you, and with your help we’ll get it done in November!

Charlie

I left my job at Harvard Pilgrim and jumped into the Governor’s race about a year ago.  Yes – time does fly.  Back then, I had no team, no campaign money, no office space, and basically no one knew who I was.  But I knew Massachusetts was heading in the wrong direction, and I wanted to do something to turn it around.  I’ve learned a heck of a lot along the way, but I wanted to share with you five important things that are high on my mind:

1)     This is a great state – filled with great people – and you all deserve better than you’re getting from Beacon Hill.  When someone talks to me about cashing out their 401K to pay their mortgage, or putting their own money into their company because they can’t get a loan, or purposefully reforming their public schools because the kids in their community didn’t do well on MCAS, I walk away amazed by the imagination, guts and creativity that’s all around us.  Despite it all, the people of Massachusetts are living within their means and making things work – for themselves, their families, their organizations and their communities.  State government needs to play by the same rules everyone else is playing by, and stop living beyond its means.

2)     This race is about what I call the pocketbook issues – jobs, spending and taxes.  These were the issues most on my mind when I entered the race.  Under Governor Patrick and Treasurer Cahill, the state’s once robust finances have crumbled, and the state now faces a $2.5+ billion structural deficit next year – despite 8 tax increases and billions of one-time federal stimulus and rainy day fund money.  Our competitive position as a state – never great to begin with – has gotten worse over the past few years, and over 300,000 people are out of work.

I have the plans and the desire to dig into these issues and turn this state around.  Governor Patrick and Treasurer Cahill cannot get it done.  They both made the mess we have to fight our way out of, and oppose virtually all of the reforms I’ve proposed.  That might be because they’ve been busy seeking and securing union endorsements that cripple their ability to reform much of anything.

3)     Too many people in and around Beacon Hill can’t think past the status quo.  I talk to folks who work up there about reform, and they simply shake their heads and say it can’t / won’t happen.  They are good people, but they are deeply mistaken.  They’ve been lulled to sleep by the increasingly low expectations of the Patrick Administration.  When the Governor says, “These are serious issues,” or “there are no quick fixes,” that’s code for “it’s too hard to fix it.”  I disagree.  There are huge opportunities for reform in a crisis, and right now, Massachusetts is missing out on all of them.

4)     Governor Patrick’s recent decision to walk away from 17 years of hard won progress on K-12 education is an outrage.  I know this item doesn’t meet the “lessons learned over the past 12 months” test, but it still deserves mention.  On so many issues, the Governor’s approach to Massachusetts is small-minded, but none speaks as loudly as this one.  Instead of focusing on fixing all the stuff in state government that’s broken, he wants to change the one thing that works.  We lead the nation in student achievement, and many businesses are here because of the quality of our schools and our workforce.  Throwing our state in with some to-be-developed federal program for education reform is simply bad policy – for students and for Massachusetts.  I will do everything in my power to reverse this decision if I win in November.

5)     I know I can do this job.  More importantly, I WANT to do this job.  I’ve seen this movie before.  State government is nearly bankrupt and mostly dysfunctional, just like Harvard Pilgrim was when I took on that challenge almost 11 years ago.  I know I can put together a strong team, build a reform agenda that works, and get this state moving in a positive direction again.  So much of this is about attitude and experience.  I’ve got plenty of both – and I want to put it to work for the people of this great state.

Finally, there will be 100 days left in this election season on Sunday, and we will be up against all the forces of the status quo.  No one should underestimate their intensity or their desire to hold onto what they’ve got.  I will need your continued help and involvement to see this through to victory.  Find 10 people who will contribute something – anything – to our campaign, and send them to our website to donate. Find 10 people who will show up at a rally in their neighborhood in the fall, and bring their friends as well.  And make sure everyone knows that November 2nd is Election Day!

You’ve all been great supporters for the past 12 months, and I am awed and humbled by your help.  But it’s the beginning of the fourth quarter folks.  It’s time to make it happen.

Let’s go get ‘em!

Charlie

I couldn’t begin this post without again extending a big thank you to all the volunteers and supporters who marched with us over the 4th of July weekend in the scorching heat! We had a great turnout and got a great reception at each of the parades we were in – thank you! We couldn’t have done it without you.

We have some great footage from the weekend, so check it out by clicking here.

We had great news out of the fundraising world this week – our numbers are on the rise and ahead of our opponents, but we need to keep up the momentum! We know Deval Patrick and Tim Murray and their allies will spend heavily in the fall to try and win the election, so we have to outdo their efforts.

We also had our first call at home event this week, putting to work our new Team Baker Online Action Center. In one night, from their own homes, we had dozens of volunteers making calls across the state to thousands of voters! It was really awesome and a big thank you to everyone who made calls. It’s a great tool and we plan to use it as much as possible between now and November 2, so if you haven’t yet, go here and sign up to make calls! Team Baker Online Action Center

One more note, there are now 22 days left in the legislative session this year before Beacon Hill goes home for the summer. My running-mate, Richard Tisei, is working hard to push some – any – reforms through the Senate during these final days to save taxpayers money and lessen the impact of local aid cuts on cities and towns, but as usual he’s met with a lot of resistance from the special interests. This year marks the third in a row that local aid has been cut, forcing teacher layoffs, fewer firefighters and police, shortened library hours, and a host of other local cutbacks. It can’t continue. Deval Patrick and Tim Cahill don’t support the reforms needed to change this habit of raising taxes or making cuts, but I DO! We can make this change.

See you on the campaign trail!

Charlie

• I’m a Massachusetts kid – always have been and always will be;

• I know something about turnarounds – which we need – now more than ever, and;

• Unlike the crowd up on Beacon Hill, my primary focus will be creating jobs, cutting spending and cutting taxes.

I look forward to your feedback!

If you’ve been following the campaign on Facebook (and if you’re not, you should try to), you know we’ve been crisscrossing the Commonwealth on our “Had Enough?” Tour.  And while the stories vary from place to place, the overwhelming message from the voters we talk to is the same – they’ve had enough – of tax increases, over-spending, local aid cuts, bad behavior and no real reform on Beacon Hill.

We’re posting weekly video updates from the campaign trail on our Facebook and campaign page every week.  Here’s our most recent recap of last week. Be sure to check it out!

We had the first debate this week between Governor Deval Patrick, Treasurer Tim Cahill and me, hosted on WRKO by Tom Finneran and Todd Feinburg.  We covered a bunch of topics – jobs, spending, taxes, education, immigration and health care among them – using a pretty unstructured format.  My message was pretty simple – I’m not part of the team that delivered the mess we’ve got on Beacon Hill, but my two opponents are.  I have plans to cut spending and reform state government, they don’t.  And I have the experience to get it done.

There have been many other highlights for me on the campaign trail, but I thought I’d mention just a couple of items this week.  The first was our visit a few weeks back to Brockton High School, which has done a terrific job of delivering a high quality education for the kids in that community.  Almost everyone who graduates from Brockton HS goes on to some form of higher education, and their kids perform at the statewide average on the MCAS English and Math tests.  This sets Brockton apart from most other urban school districts.  It’s a tribute to the administrators and the teachers, and the kids and their parents. But this progress wasn’t easy and it took a “we have to be better than that” approach. They did it, and we can’t backtrack from that progress. That’s why I push back when Governor Patrick talks about abandoning the MCAS. And that’s why we say Beacon Hill needs to give cities and towns the tools they need to better manage their budgets and spending.

We visited Gloucester recently and I got into a pretty serious conversation with a fisherman who had not been fishing for several weeks because of the new federal standards around both the process for catching fish, and the limits on how much and what they can catch.  I’ve been doing anything I can to fight for the fishing industry in MA since last fall.  The federal rules are not based on good data or good science – and the cities of Gloucester and New Bedford have sued the federal government on behalf of their fishing communities to seek a moratorium on these new rules.  After a lot of prodding – from these communities, me and others – the Patrick Administration finally decided to join the lawsuit.  His decision was long overdue.

The feedback on my message has been very positive, and I’m looking forward to having other opportunities to discuss the future of this great state with the other Gubernatorial candidates.

Some other observations from the campaign trail…

• We had a blast marching in the Dorchester Day Parade a couple of Sundays ago – 3.2 miles of handshakes, photos, and lots of running. In fact, all of the parades Senator Tisei and I have marched in have been really fun.  He and I each take one side of the street and then we work it – handshakes, photos, and small talk all the way through.  Then we end up racing back to the horde of supporters we’ve got marching with us – who just keep going while we’re lollygagging with the spectators.

• Our standout outside Boston Garden before Game 3 between the Celtics and the Lakers was also a lot of fun.  Great buzz that night.

• Sometimes, politics is about small victories.  Richard Tisei managed to secure a major win for a major guy – Major Steve Godin – in a silly dispute he was having with the teacher’s union and the school system in Worcester.  The Major has been an ROTC instructor there for 14 years, and was suddenly being forced by the teachers’ union to choose between paying a fee to the union for representation he doesn’t need or get, and the job he’s been doing educating kids.  Unfortunately, the school system sided with the union, so Richard and I decided to pursue other options.  A couple of days later (really!), Richard managed to get legislation passed that exempts ROTC instructors from paying agency or collective bargaining fees.  The Governor signed it and we’re happy to have helped in any way we did.

UPCOMING SPECIAL EVENT
Please join me on Tuesday, June 29th at 7pm at the campaign headquarters for a Social Media Bootcamp.  Find out how you can spread our campaign message using Twitter, Facebook, and our new Team Baker Online Action Center.  Click for details and to RSVP.

Thanks for your ongoing support.  Please check out our brand new online volunteer system, the Team Baker Online Action Center.  This program will allow you to stay involved with the campaign right from your computer.  With your help, we’ll win in the fall and take this state in a different – and better – direction.

Charlie

Memorial Day week-end is the unofficial beginning of summer for many folks here in Massachusetts, and I hope everyone has a chance to get outside and enjoy the sun.  But it’s also very important for us all to remember that this is, in fact, MEMORIAL DAY week-end – our annual opportunity to remember and honor the servicemen and women who have died protecting us and this great country of ours, and their families.

For folks like me from Swampscott, that means honoring the memories of the three kids from Swampscott who lost their lives fighting for us in Iraq – Jennifer Harris, Jared Raymond and Justin Mooers.  It means thanking the young men and women from Swampscott who’ve served in every conflict and lost their lives.  And it means remembering and honoring the brave men and women – and their families – who have given so much to us with their service and their collective sacrifice.

I thought I’d also take this moment to share the remarks former candidate for Congress Don Hussey gave at the St. Patrick’s Day breakfast in Scituate back in March.

Don is a civic minded guy.  He’s run for office before – twice that I know of in primaries against State Senator Bob Hedlund – and is a lifelong Republican.  He was also one of the first people to get into the race against Congressman Bill Delahunt – before U.S. Senator Scott Brown’s victory, and before anyone thought Delahunt might be vulnerable, or might not run again.

Don was the last person to speak in Scituate that morning, but he was, by far, the best.  He stood at the podium and talked about his family and his son – who is in the Army, and is now stationed in Germany – between tours of duty in Afghanistan.  Don said he’d recently learned that his son would be going back into Afghanistan in May or June, and that he simply didn’t think he could focus on a race for Congress at the same time he would be focusing on helping his daughter-in-law with his grandchildren, and worrying about his son.

Don showed us a journal he’s been keeping for the past year – mostly writing to himself and his son – after his son was almost killed by an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) during his last tour in Afghanistan.  Don said he started writing the journal because he didn’t know if his son would be coming home again, and he wanted something to remember him by if he didn’t.

By now, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room, and Don closed his comments by repeating the back and forth he had had with his son at the end of their last phone call…”I love you boy…I love you dad…”

I can’t recall ever being so moved by such a short speech.  I got all choked up when I hugged my 19 year-old son and sent him off to college.  No matter how proud a parent must be – and Don is as proud of his son as they come – I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to send a child off to war.  God Bless you Don, God Bless your son, and God Bless all of our sons and daughters in harm’s way this Memorial Day week-end.

Charlie Baker

Today we’re kicking off our weeklong bus tour of Massachusetts to talk to people about what they’ve had enough of. For us, it’s simple. We’ve had enough of the tax hikes, the broken promises, the insider deals, the special interests controlling what gets done on Beacon Hill, the unwillingness to make tough decisions that will help cities and towns save money, the lack of meaningful reforms. I could go on and on. But to me, this is the important stuff that is the reason I got into this race.

When I started this campaign almost nine months ago, I did it because Massachusetts deserves better. Our kids deserve a better future, and we deserve to feel good about the direction we’re heading in as a Commonwealth. People should feel good about the schools. People should feel that the streets are safe. We’re not going to get there though by raising taxes. We’re going to get there by coming together to make the tough decisions that right now Beacon Hill refuses to do. We can no longer ignore the local health care and pension reforms that will save cities and towns millions of dollars – and save schools from losing good teachers, save police and fire departments from losing good men and women, and save taxpayers from having to dig deeper year after year.

We are never going to find the savings we need to without doing things differently. Our campaign is about more than grabbing headlines and making empty promises. It’s about bringing real reform to state government that will save taxpayer money, shrink the size of state government, and give cities and towns the tools they need to make the reforms they need to.

Massachusetts is better than this, and we deserve better than this. We’ve had enough of lofty promises without any action, and people across the state are telling us they have too.

Now it’s your turn – two quick things you can do to help:

• Connect with Team Baker on Twitter and Facebook.
• Watch our new video and find the schedule for the tour by visiting our website: www.masshadenough.com and help spread the word.