Deval Was at UMass Today

Deval Patrick is about to become our new governor. The election is one week away but I am calling the race today :-) I am not out on a limb in this declaration; he has not been considered the underdog, ever since he swept the state in the primary, shocking almost everyone. However, it is very unusual for Mass to have a Democrat as governor. We tend to have a Republican Governor and a Democratic controlled House and nothing much gets done. So, this will be a big victory in that sense.

I was able to go hear Deval today. I think he represents the hope we all need and the determination we need to make some major headway in this state. Many other state officials were there and many students or course. It was great to see so many interested and responsive students. That alone makes me hopeful.

Deval came to Massachusetts from inner city Chicago as part of the ABC (A Better Chance) program. The Amherst ABC kids were there today...sitting on the stage with the officials!

One part of Deval's web page says:

I can still remember when I first came to Massachusetts. I wasn’t a lawyer then. I wasn’t a business leader or a senior government official. I wasn’t a father or a husband and goodness knows I wasn’t a candidate for governor. I was a 14-year-old boy, starting a new life that was as different from anything I'd experienced in Chicago as I could possibly imagine. And I was scared.

But my grandmother had a saying that fortified me: “Hope for the best – and work for it.”

Hope for the best – and work for it.

That’s what I did. I hoped for the best – I learned how not to accept what is right in front of me, what someone else said were my limits. I learned how to imagine a better life and a better way. And I worked for it.

I learned to listen to common sense and wisdom, to be true to my core values, and to ignore those who called me naïve or told me to accept something less.Standing on the brink of an uncertain future, with all the challenges our state faces today, I hope for the best and am prepared to work for it.

And that is why I am running and why I'm asking you to help me become your next governor. I want you to see what’s possible in Massachusetts – and to help me work for it.