Newsweek on Patrick

Newsweek has the interesting article A Real Racial Tipping Point about the blacks running for major offices this political cycle: Senate candidates Harold Ford Jr. (Tenn.), Michael Steele, Kweisi Mfume (Md.), and Keith Butler (Mich.); and gubernatorial candidates Ken Blackwell (Ohio), Lynn Swann (Penn.) and Deval Patrick right here in Massachusetts.

Now, Steele's campaign is likely dead in the water (for comparing stem-cell research to slavery and the Holocaust before a Jewish audience) and Ken Blackwell was the Katharine Harris of 2004 (speaking of Harris, her Senate campaign is pretty dead too), whereas Swann seems to be doing well with his Super Bowl ring campaign. Butler will have great trouble unseating Debbie Stabenow.

On the Democratic side, Ford is running neck and neck with the Republican candidates and Mfume has an uphill battle beating Ben Cardin in the primary -- though either should trounce Steele unless he pulls a remarkable turnaround.

From the article:

Ford's challenge, as he sees it, has less to do with race than with distancing himself from some prominent family members with legal problems and, most important, distinguishing himself as something other than a typical knee-jerk liberal politician. There was a time, he observes, when black politicians "had to be civil-rights advocates only." He is grateful that time has passed and that his platform can be broader and his ambitions grander than those of his dad.

Patrick, assistant attorney general for Civil Rights under President Bill Clinton, is also making his presence felt. A recent poll had him tied with Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly in the Democratic primary and doing well against Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, who is favored to win the GOP slot. To the extent race is a problem, said Patrick, "I don't view it as my problem."