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A candidate tries to
minimize the glare from Cheney's visit
By Michael Levenson, Globe
Staff | September 8, 2006
In Connecticut, a television
advertisement features a photo of him arm in arm with Nancy
Johnson , a Republican member of Congress battling for
reelection. ``Caught red-handed again," says an ominous
voice-over.
In New Jersey, Tom Kean , a
Republican candidate for US Senate, waited until he left the
building to arrive at a fund-raiser.
And late this afternoon, Vice
President Dick Cheney, one of the most unpopular figures in
American politics, comes to Massachusetts, one of the most
heavily Democratic states, where Lieutenant Governor Kerry
Healey is running as a moderate Republican for governor.
To the delight of Democrats,
the situation has forced Healey to walk a fine line.
Healey, who greeted President
Bush when he visited Boston in 2004, does not plan to greet
Cheney at Logan International Airport or bid him farewell,
her aides said yesterday.
That will allow her to avoid
the press and head directly to the Harvard Club in Boston,
where Cheney will mingle at a closed-door fund-raiser for
the state Republican Party, the biggest of the year, with
tickets fetching $2,500 apiece.
``She's certainly going to be
distancing herself publicly, or attempting to," said Philip
W. Johnston , chairman of the state Democratic Party.
Running in a state where fewer
than 13 percent of the voters are registered Republicans,
Healey has chosen her words carefully when speaking about
the vice president.
Last month, pressed for an
answer during a televised interview with NECN's Jim Braude,
she said she had a ``favorable view" of Cheney.
``I support our
administration, as you know," she said during the interview.
``I feel very strongly that there are things that I agree
with in national policy -- keeping taxes lower and having an
aggressive
foreign policy and having standards in education."
At the same time, Healey has
highlighted some areas in which she differs with the
conservative wing of the Republican Party. She has said, for
example, that the country cannot deport every illegal
immigrant, stressing that, ``we have to deal with the people
who are here."
``I don't think that people
associate me with the national Republican Party," Healey
said in May on WRKO-AM.
``They associate me and the
governor with balance," she added, saying that she and
Governor Mitt Romney, also a Republican, serve as a check on
the overwhelmingly Democratic Legislature.
Brian Dodge , executive
director of the state Republican Party, said the party is
pleased Cheney is coming to the fund-raiser, billed as an
event to honor Richard J. Egan , the founder of
Hopkinton-based EMC Corp. Romney will also attend.
``Dick Cheney is popular
amongst the people who are in attendance," Dodge said. ``Our
activists are excited to have him here. This will inspire
and excite them going into the meat of the general
election,and that's the intent of the event."
With his national approval
ratings plummeting to less than 20 percent, worse than
President Bush's, Cheney's brief campaign visits have
presented some similar conundrums for Republicans across the
country.
Earlier this year, Cheney held
a fund-raiser for US Representative Scott Garrett , a New
Jersey Republican, in New York City, after canceling a
fund-raiser in the congressman's state. Cheney's aides said
there had been a scheduling conflict; skeptical Democrats
said Garrett wanted to soften the impact of Cheney's visit
by holding the event outside the state.
``More people believe in UFOs
than think Dick Cheney is doing a good job, so he has really
become an albatross, a metaphor for a Bush administration
that has really become unpopular," said Phil Singer , a
spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Cheney, however, has proven to
be a reliable fund-raiser, still able to pack a ballroom
with party stalwarts who have helped raise millions for
candidates for Congress and governor's offices.
According to the vice
president's office, Cheney has made 90 campaign appearances
this year.
Though the state Democratic
Party is not planning any events to spotlight Cheney's visit
today, antiwar activists are planning to protest outside the
Harvard Club. During Cheney's last visit, for a fundraiser
in Hopkinton in 2003, more than 70 antiwar protesters yelled
and jeered at his motorcade.
``He is a lightning rod, even
more so than his official, nominal boss," said Suren
Moodliar , a Brookline antiwar activist who is helping to
organize today's protest.
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