The Nifty Fifty House Party - Part XLII: Massachusetts

After traversing through the conservative landscape of Oklahoma, the Bullet Train to November now steers northeast to one of the, if not, the most historical states in the country, the "Cradle of Liberty"...

MASSACHUSETTS

One of the most historic states in the Union, Massachusetts has been a crucial pillar to the life of America. The land, which also included present-day Maine, was inhabited by Native American tribes of the Algonquian kind. Things dramatically changed in 1620 with the Pilgrims' settlement at Plymouth, the second successful permanent English colony in North America. More Puritans joined in 1630 to establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but their rigid religious beliefs resulted in dissenters leaving the colony, two of whom, Roger Williams and Thomas Hooker, founded the respective colonies of Rhode Island and Connecticut. In 1692, it became the largest colony in New England, and became a focal point of independence from Great Britain. Such famous incidents as the Boston Tea Party and Boston Massacre paved the way for the American Revolution, which resulted in the formation of the United States, of which the Bay State became the sixth to ratify the Constitution on February 6, 1788.

Today, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has evolved into a diverse landscape, with the largest percentage of Irish Americans of any state, as well as significant communities of various ethnic groups including Italian, French, Finnish, Swedish, Haitian, Portuguese, Greek and Polish Americans, as well as colonial English American "Yankees". The state is now predominantly Roman Catholic as a result of this immigration, though various faiths maintain a presence here, and the world headquarters of Christian Science and the Unitarian-Universalist Church are situated here. An established leader in education, Massachusetts is home to the nation's first public library (and its oldest municipal free library), the first state to require each municipality to establish a grammar school, the nation's oldest high school (Boston Latin School) and oldest college (Harvard University), and the town of Franklin, the birthplace of education pioneer Horace Mann, is noted as the North American birthplace of public education. The Bay State economy is also fixated around biotechnology, financial services, tourism, and health care, as well as agricultural outputs including seafood, dairy, and cranberries (second largest producer courtesy of the Ocean Spray cooperative in Lakeville), and industrial outputs in publishing, electronics, scientific instruments, and machinery. Among the more well-known Bay Staters: comedians Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Steve Carell, children's bookwriter Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss), and transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

The Massachusetts political landscape of today, in contrast to its puritanical past, is marked by liberalism as evidenced by its overwhelmingly Democratic Massachusetts General Court (the state legislature), where Democrats hold supermajorities in the House and Senate, as well as the Governor's Mansion (since 2007). Democrats also control both U.S. Senate seats and all ten U.S. House seats, the largest state with such a delegation. Republicans last won the Bay State in 1984 with Ronald Reagan's landslide, and it was the only state in 1972 to go to George McGovern (along with the District of Columbia) while Richard Nixon carried the other 49 states. John Kerry won his home state of Massachusetts with nearly 62 percent of the vote, the largest margin of any state outside of the heavily Democratic District of Columbia. The state is also known for one of the most enduring families in recent American politics, the Kennedy family, who introduced the world to President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and longtime Massachusetts U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, among others, affiliated with the Democrats and political liberalism.

This year, Kerry is expected to win reelection to his Senate seat for a fifth term, while Barack Obama is expected to win the state's 12 electoral votes, possibly by a smaller margin than Kerry in 2004. There are no competitive House races this year despite the state's delegation to Congress being of one party. A major reason for this one-party dominance in the House is the practice of gerrymandering in which districts are drawn for partisan and personal gain for the incumbents. Massachusetts has perhaps one of the worst examples of this shoddy practice, and going through these districts will give readers a textbook example of what this practice has resulted in.

District 1 (S-Factor 14.3 DEM): John Olver represents this heavily liberal district based in the Berkshires and such western and central Massachusetts cities and towns as Holyoke, Fitchburg, and West Springfield. The Republican nominee is Army vet Nate Bech. Prediction: Solid DEM.

District 2 (S-Factor 12.0 DEM): Richard Neal is unopposed in this Springfield-based district that stretches eastward to areas south of Worcester. Prediction: Solid DEM.

District 3 (S-Factor 12.3 DEM): Jim McGovern has no opposition. His linear district includes Worcester and stretches in a southeasterly direction to Marlborough, Attleboro, Somerset and portions of Fall River. Prediction: Solid DEM.

District 4 (S-Factor 18.3 DEM): House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank is favored for yet another term (this will be his 15th) in this district that starts in Brookline and Newton, and stretches southward across a narrow strip of southwestern suburbs of Boston to reach Taunton, Fall River, and New Bedford. Businessman Earl Sholley will try. Prediction: Solid DEM.

District 5 (S-Factor 10.3 DEM): Winning this seat was not easy for Niki Tsongas, who succeeded Marty Meehan after the latter became Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell. The widow of one-time U.S. Senator and 1992 presidential candidate Paul Tsongas faced a strong challenge from Republican former Air Force Lt. Col. Jim Ogonowski, whose brother piloted the American Airlines flight that crashed into the World Trade Center in New York on 9/11. Tsongas won, but with only 51 percent of the vote, in this district which covers Boston's northwestern suburban areas along Interstate 495 (from east to west: Haverhill, Methuen, Lawrence, Lowell and Chelmsford). Ogonowski instead chose to run for the Senate against John Kerry, but got snubbed for falling short of required signatures needed to challenge Senator Kerry. Now there is no Republican to challenge Tsongas for this seat. Prediction: Solid DEM.

District 6 (S-Factor 11.0 DEM): Since 1996, John Tierney has represented this district based along the North Shore region in most of Essex County (Gloucester, Lynn, Peabody) as well as a portion of Middlesex County. Inventor and software engineer Rich Baker is the Republican nominee. Prediction: Solid DEM.

District 7 (S-Factor 18.5 DEM): Ed Markey, the Dean of the Massachusetts and New England House delegations, chairs the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. He has represented inner northwestern suburbs of Boston including Malden, Medford, Waltham and Framingham since 1976. Libertarian Republican businessman John Cunningham is running for this seat. Prediction: Solid DEM.

District 8 (S-Factor 32.8 DEM): This overwhelmingly Democratic district based in much of Boston and the adjacent cities of Chelsea, Cambridge and Somerville should be piece of cake for incumbent Democrat Mike Capuano. There are no Republicans running for this seat. Prediction: Solid DEM.

District 9 (S-Factor 13.5 DEM): Stephen Lynch is unopposed in this district that stretches southward from Boston to some of its southern suburbs including Braintree, Norwood, Randolph and Brockton. Prediction: Solid DEM.

District 10 (S-Factor 8.5 DEM): This is the most conservative district in all of Massachusetts, which stretches along the South Shore including Quincy, Plymouth and Cape Cod, but even Bill Delahunt is unopposed. Prediction: Solid DEM.

Next stop: Rhode Island.