It has been very gratifying to note the left wing blogosphere’s discovery of the political dynamo that is one Alan Schlesinger. For those of you with lives, Schlesinger is the Republican running in the Lamont – Lieberman race.

Yesterday’s debate between Lamont, Lieberman and Schlesinger has made Schlesinger the biggest nutroots heartthrob since Paul Hackett. All of the liberal bloggers seem convinced that Schlesinger was brilliant, and that it’s a shame that the electorate hasn’t gotten to see more of this compelling semi-public figure.

Oddly enough, the left wing blogs didn’t take note of Schlesinger’s well-documented personal shortcomings including his outsized fondness for gambling. It’s strange for them to be so charitable to a “Rethuglican.” Perhaps the Nutroots have turned over a new leaf and henceforth will practice a more civil form of political warfare. Either that, or they think simple-minded Republicans will be gulled into supporting Schlesinger because he’s winning rave reviews from the left wing blogosphere.

Markos, please listen to me – I know you think yourself a kingmaker, but Republicans really don’t care what you think.

Elsewhere in political news, I was on TV last night talking about the Massachusetts gubernatorial race. People-powered favorite Deval Patrick was winning by 39 points a month ago; now he’s up by only 13 points in the latest poll and hemorrhaging roughly a point a day.

First of all, a couple of points about Patrick’s 39 point lead. It’s become common practice among desperate Bay State liberals to deride that poll result and say he never had a chance of winning by such a wide margin. That’s bunk. Bill Weld won in 1994 by almost 50 points and Michael Dukakis routinely enjoyed such routs. In more recent history, John Kerry beat George Bush by 25 points and Gore beat Bush by even more (a fact that shows what a beloved figure John Kerry is in his home state).

Coming off a high profile primary victory, hailed as a figure of national import by the liberal media and blogosphere, having an ability to raise unlimited funds, and running against Kerry Healy, a low profile Lieutenant Governor under Mitt Romney, there was no reason to think Patrick wouldn’t win by a margin in the 30’s.

And yet Patrick now has a debate this Thursday with Healey that is do or die. What happened?

Healey has run an inspired campaign, and Patrick has run a dreadful one. Healey has been on the offensive since the nominations were settled, and Patrick has settled into the time honored Bay State liberal politico tradition of constantly whining that his opponent is being too mean.

How mean is Healey being? She has spent a lot of time pointing out that as a private attorney, Patrick chose some curious cases to lend his talents to on a pro bono basis. One was for a convicted cop killer; another was for a convicted rapist who had had bound his 59 year old victim.

When I was on TV last night, the host asked me why these were relevant. They’re relevant because most people recoil from such criminals, not inquire how they can be helped. Just as was the case with Michael Dukakis’ furloughing of Willie Horton, Patrick’s actions evidence a worldview that is out of synch with the electorate’s.

Did someone mention Dukakis? Oh yeah, I did. Dukakis, the evil step-mother of Massachusetts politics, equally loathed by Republican and Democrat alike, made news yesterday calling the Healy campaign the ugliest he’s ever seen. Of course the Duke used his moment in the spotlight to once again lament the unfairness of that mean old George H.W. Bush and those Willie Horton ads.

What is it about Massachusetts Democrats that leads them to conclude that womanish whining is an electoral winner? 18 years later, Dukakis is still pouting. I’m sure in 2022, John Kerry will be bellowing “Do you know who I am” to his domestic servants and then launching into a tirade about how he was Swiftboated.

One other observation about Patrick. In the taped segment that led up to our chat, the excellent host Jim Braude served up Patrick a fat and easy softball. He asked Patrick that if it turns out that the head of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority had fudged his reports and said fudging had led to the Big Dig death that made national headlines a few months ago, would Governor Patrick like to see the guy criminally prosecuted?

Patrick didn’t just whiff – he didn’t even bother to take a swing. He muttered some lawyerly evasion and then I missed the rest of his answer because I was convulsed in laughter. I thought to myself, “This guy doesn’t want to win.”

In recent days, many of us without the initials H.H. in the blogosphere have become very negative regarding Republican prospects. Letters have poured in pleading “give us something we can use” rather than just some pessimistic analysis. After all, we all want to win.

As I said yesterday, that’s a fair point. As a party and as a group of candidates, Republicans have to begin show that they want to win. If this is truly an hour of desperation, a little passion is in order. Massachusetts’ Kerry Healy wants to win. She obviously has a fire in the belly that belies her placid demeanor. If every Republican shows the same fighting spirit over the next three weeks that she has shown throughout her campaign, then November 7 may not be so dark a day after all.

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