But while Massachusetts liberals can forgiveWeld for his few conservative positions, hissupport for the Citizens for Limited Taxation(CLT) sweeping tax rollback proposal is completelyunpalatable for many. Opponents of the CLT planargue that it will result in fiscal chaos, forcingthe government to abolish vital services for thestate's neediest citizens.
And so liberal voters are back where theystarted: with Silber, the Democrat.
"They're looking for an excuse to vote forSilber, and CLT is it," says Koocher.
CHAMPIONS OF progressive legislationlike Arline Isaacson, co-chair of theMassachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus,are not so quick to decide. Isaacson says the twocandidates' fiscal conservatism is the mostdisheartening.
"I wish they would, both of them, be moreprogressive in their approach to fiscal matters,"she says.
Weld's support of the CLT petition makes itdifficult for liberals to vote for him, butSilber--who has described himself as "CLT with abrain"--is not much of an improvement, saysIsaacson.
"With Silber, while it's been good to see hisstaunch opposition to Question 3, I wish heweren't so quick to agree that the answer to ourproblems is to cut, cut, cut," she says.
"All my progressive friends are saying theystill don't know whom to vote for and might notdecide until the day they vote," Isaacson says."And I've never seen that in a gubernatorialrace."
That block of undecided liberal voters mayprove crucial for Silber, who has led Weld by onlya small margin in recent polls. "Whether he winsor loses depends on whether he can attractprogressive voters," says Boston politicalconsultant Thomas Kiley.
The 1.3 million registered Democrats in thestate would seem to give Silber a large advantageover Weld, who can only rely on roughly 400,000registered Republicans. But analysts say partyloyalty is especially difficult to gauge this yearbecause so many voters are expected to cross partylines. And now, the largest group of registeredvoters in the state is Independents, accountingfor approximately 1.4 million voters.
VOTERS ON THE LEFT are not the only onesfeeling left out in today's gubernatorialelection. The ideological right, which has beenthe backbone of the state GOP during Dukakis'reign on Beacon Hill, has also been orphaned bythe campaign.
Weld won September's primary without theendorsement of the GOP state committee, a prizethat went to the more conservative House MinorityLeader Steven D. Pierce (R-Westfield).
Weld's relationship with the leadership of thestate committee is often described as shaky atbest. Before Weld's victory in September, manyRepublicans said that his resignation in protestas assistant U.S. attorney under Attorney GeneralEd Meese was a snub to President Ronald Reagan.
"The conservative, ideological Republicans area little nervous because they know they can'tcontrol Weld," says Koocher.
But the prospect a Republicangovernor--something Massachusetts hasn't seen in20 years--has placated all but the mostconservative right-wingers.
For the liberal voter, though, there is no suchconsolation. Isaacson and her colleagues in theState House lobby say they have little to lookforward to in the next four years.
But while they have resigned themselves to fatein the governor's race, they have stepped up theiractivity in legislative races, Isaacson says.
"It's going to be rough no matter who'selected," she says. "And it will be determined, inno small part, by how the state legislative racesturn out. Because if you don't have aliberal-progressive in the governor's office youdamn well better have one in the legislature."
Isaacson says her biggest fear is that theanti-incumbent fervor that characterized theprimaries will sweep liberal legislators out oftheir House and Senate seats.
"Then we'll have nothing," she says