August 30, 2010
MetroWest Daily News
Four years ago, the Democratic Party reached a new apex in Massachusetts with the landslide election of Deval Patrick as governor. And the demographics seemed to portend further happy days, with Democrats doing especially well among growing populations such as non-whites, urban residents, and college graduates. New voters were another source of encouragement, as exit polls in November 2006 gave Patrick a whopping 66 percent among voters under 30. Barack Obama's victory in Massachusetts in the 2008 presidential election seemed to put an exclamation point on the pro-Democratic trend.
But just over seven months ago, the moods of the two major parties in Massachusetts did a complete switch.