With the Massachusetts governor’s election only one month away, independent candidate Tim Cahill’s running mate Paul Loscocco withdrew from the race and endorsed his former opponent, Republican candidate Charlie Baker.
Loscocco’s resignation is a sure indicator that even those on Team Cahill have given up hope on his chances of winning. As an independent candidate, Cahill’s chances for success have always been considered a long shot. The fact that his right hand man no longer believes that his campaign is worth running shows that it isn’t.
The withdrawal of Cahill’s running mate is representative of everything that is wrong with politics. In a perfect world, the public should be able to expect politicians to stay true to what they believe in, despite the chances of winning, and to not turn their backs on those who they support just because of one failure. But in a political system in which poll numbers are more important than policies, Loscocco did what any true politician would do and chose strategy over sincerity. And although this may be a sad commentary on the nature of politics, from a strategic standpoint, it makes a lot of sense.
It is logical that Loscocco would throw his hat in with Baker &- Cahill and Baker’s platforms have always been very similar and it is clear that by remaining in the race Cahill is only taking votes away from his conservative cohort. This raises the question of what is more important to Cahill &- having his views represented in the governor’s office, albeit by a different candidate, or keeping himself in the spotlight.
Although running as an independent candidate is both an admirable feat and a necessary challenge to the power of the two major political parties, Cahill has run his course as a candidate in the governor’s race. He has gotten his views to the public and given his campaign the best shot that he was capable of. But by staying in the race, he is merely making things tougher for Baker and showing that he cares more about himself than about what he thinks is best for the people of Massachusetts.
With the latest Rasmussen Reports poll indicating that Cahill only has six percent of the vote, it is clear that his race has run its course. Now it is up to him to take the high road and let Baker and Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick duke it out on their own.
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