Normally, I don’t pay much attention to staff hires by gubernatorial hopefuls, but Independent Tim Cahill, the Massachusetts State Treasurer who is challenging Governor Deval Patrick for his seat, sent out an interesting press advisory this morning. A recent poll showed Cahill in a statistical tie with the Republican candidate, Charles Baker, though both trail Patrick. Patrick led the survey with 33% followed by Baker with 25% and Cahill with 23%. From the release:
This morning Tim Cahill and Paul Loscocco announced the addition of senior Republican strategists John Weaver and John Yob to their campaign. Also joining Cahill’s campaign are Mike Dennehy and Mark Salter. These four original advisors to Sen. John McCain join senior Democratic strategist Tad Devine already serving on the campaign.
Patrick, who had help from White House political advisor David Axelrod getting elected in 2006, has already got David Plouffe advising his reelection campaign. The candidates may be different but the staff is much the same as the 2008 presidential election (at least, this was the staff McCain started the campaign with). On the other hand, the political climate couldn’t be more different, as Scott Brown proved with his surprise Senate victory in Massachusetts. A sign of just how tough the landscape is for incumbents, Democrats and Republicans alike? Brown is campaigning for McCain, who is facing a primary challenge from his right for former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, today and tomorrow in Arizona.
Update:
Salter, Weaver, Devine et al may want to ask about their salaries as it seems Cahill only raised $86,595 last month compared to Baker’s $561,000 and Patrick’s $249,736 in the same time period.