A candidate tries to minimize the glare from Cheney's visit
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | September 8, 2006
In Connecticut, a television advertisement features a photo of him arm in arm with Nancy Johnson , a Republican member of Congress battling for reelection. ``Caught red-handed again," says an ominous voice-over. In New Jersey, Tom Kean , a Republican candidate for US Senate, waited until he left the building to arrive at a fund-raiser.
And late this afternoon, Vice President Dick Cheney, one of the most unpopular figures in American politics, comes to Massachusetts, one of the most heavily Democratic states, where Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey is running as a moderate Republican for governor.
To the delight of Democrats, the situation has forced Healey to walk a fine line.
Healey, who greeted President Bush when he visited Boston in 2004, does not plan to greet Cheney at Logan International Airport or bid him farewell, her aides said yesterday.
That will allow her to avoid the press and head directly to the Harvard Club in Boston, where Cheney will mingle at a closed-door fund-raiser for the state Republican Party, the biggest of the year, with tickets fetching $2,500 apiece.
``She's certainly going to be distancing herself publicly, or attempting to," said Philip W. Johnston , chairman of the state Democratic Party.
Running in a state where fewer than 13 percent of the voters are registered Republicans, Healey has chosen her words carefully when speaking about the vice president.
Last month, pressed for an answer during a televised interview with NECN's Jim Braude, she said she had a ``favorable view" of Cheney.
``I support our administration, as you know," she said during the interview. ``I feel very strongly that there are things that I agree with in national policy -- keeping taxes lower and having an aggressive foreign policy and having standards in education."
At the same time, Healey has highlighted some areas in which she differs with the conservative wing of the Republican Party. She has said, for example, that the country cannot deport every illegal immigrant, stressing that, ``we have to deal with the people who are here."
``I don't think that people associate me with the national Republican Party," Healey said in May on WRKO-AM.
``They associate me and the governor with balance," she added, saying that she and Governor Mitt Romney, also a Republican, serve as a check on the overwhelmingly Democratic Legislature.
Brian Dodge , executive director of the state Republican Party, said the party is pleased Cheney is coming to the fund-raiser, billed as an event to honor Richard J. Egan , the founder of Hopkinton-based EMC Corp. Romney will also attend.
``Dick Cheney is popular amongst the people who are in attendance," Dodge said. ``Our activists are excited to have him here. This will inspire and excite them going into the meat of the general election, and that's the intent of the event."
With his national approval ratings plummeting to less than 20 percent, worse than President Bush's, Cheney's brief campaign visits have presented some similar conundrums for Republicans across the country.
Earlier this year, Cheney held a fund-raiser for US Representative Scott Garrett , a New Jersey Republican, in New York City, after canceling a fund-raiser in the congressman's state.
Cheney's aides said there had been a scheduling conflict; skeptical Democrats said Garrett wanted to soften the impact of Cheney's visit by holding the event outside the state.
``More people believe in UFOs than think Dick Cheney is doing a good job, so he has really become an albatross, a metaphor for a Bush administration that has really become unpopular," said Phil Singer , a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Cheney, however, has proven to be a reliable fund-raiser, still able to pack a ballroom with party stalwarts who have helped raise millions for candidates for Congress and governor's offices.
According to the vice president's office, Cheney has made 90 campaign appearances this year.
Though the state Democratic Party is not planning any events to spotlight Cheney's visit today, antiwar activists are planning to protest outside the Harvard Club. During Cheney's last visit, for a fund-raiser in Hopkinton in 2003, more than 70 antiwar protesters yelled and jeered at his motorcade.
``He is a lightning rod, even more so than his official, nominal boss," said Suren Moodliar , a Brookline antiwar activist who is helping to organize today's protest.
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
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