Patrick unveils 2010 campaign with Obama visit

BOSTON -- Gov. Deval Patrick has insisted for months he's not focused on re-election next year, even as he hired the president's campaign manager, moved his chief of staff to his political committee payroll and trumpeted any optimistic headline.

On Friday, he drops all such pretense, when President Barack Obama comes to town to headline a high-profile Patrick fundraiser.

The governor's fellow Chicagoan and Harvard Law graduate will address hundreds at a Westin Copley Place luncheon. Then Obama's heading to Connecticut for a dinner on behalf of Sen. Chris Dodd, also up for re-election in 2010.

"He's going to need a lot of funds to overcome his low poll ratings, so I expect on balance it will be a good thing for him," Tufts University political science professor Kent Portney said of Patrick. "President Obama is still very, very popular here in Massachusetts."

The appearance comes little more than a month after Patrick pushed through a change in state law creating an interim senator to replace the late Edward M. Kennedy. Obama and his staff sought the appointment to restore the Democrats' 60-vote, filibuster-proof margin in the U.S. Senate as the administration tries to pass its top domestic priority, overhauling the nation's health insurance system.

Patrick says the state has also benefited from the alliance.

"Massachusetts is poised to come out of this economic downturn stronger and faster than the rest of the U.S.," the governor said in an Oct. 10 e-mail announcing the president's visit. "One reason why is our work with President Obama. Time and time again, he has delivered for the people of the commonwealth."

The visit has the potential to wipe out Patrick's fundraising disadvantage in one fell swoop. The incumbent governor has trailed both his peers and rivals in raising money to date.

Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray, supposedly Patrick's second-fiddle, has outraised the governor 2-to-1, with over $1 million in the bank to Patrick's $523,000, as of Sept. 30.

Republican Charles Baker, a former Harvard Pilgrim health care executive just returning to state politics, reported having $461,000 on hand, while fellow GOP candidate Christy Mihos reported $35,000, although he is a millionaire who could commit significant personal funds to his campaign.

Treasurer Timothy Cahill, a former Democrat now running for governor as an independent, leads all candidates with over $3 million in the bank.

Fundraiser attendees can give up to $500 per calendar year, allowing Patrick to bank donations in 2009 and still have the option of calling Obama back in 2010 to attract another round of donations during the re-election year.

Like Patrick, Obama has urged his critics to put politics aside even as he has ramped up his own political activity. On Tuesday alone, he raised an estimated $3 million for the Democratic National Committee during a series of appearances in New York City.

And besides his stops in Massachusetts and Connecticut, the president also is campaigning this week in New Jersey, Virginia and Florida.

All told, Obama will have headlined 23 fundraisers in the first nine months of his presidency, according to CBS News reporter Mark Knoller, who keeps a detailed log of presidential activities. Former President George W. Bush had only six events during 2001, his first year in office, though all politicking was muted in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The 2010 midterm elections loom large for Obama, since Democrats have the barest filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and risk giving up a more sizable majority in the House. The Massachusetts race also has the potential to presage 2012 presidential campaign themes.

The state has struggled to keep up with the rising cost of its universal health care program, something Obama is trying to emulate at the national level.

And the low-tax, anti-government campaign of Mihos is being spearheaded by GOP strategist Dick Morris, a conservative columnist and commentator at Fox News, which the Obama administration has attacked for supposed political bias in recent weeks.

In a recent video to his supporters, Patrick previewed his own re-election themes.

He said, "The Obama administration has looked to the commonwealth for ways to move this whole nation," including its universal health care plan and emphasis on green technology jobs.

His three opponents, he said, "want to move Massachusetts back."

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)