constituents of Mike Capuano- what do you think of him?

[zippy890]

I have heard some pretty harsh rumors about his style of politics. definatley not like Teddy

any opinions appreciated

[robo50]

1. I guess few DU members from the Somerville area these days

bother to venture into this chat area.

As far as I am concerned, (having worked in his area, and lived there when Tip and Joe were around), he's doing an OK job representing his district, leave him there!

[No Elephants]

6. No offense, but how would you know what being his constitutent is like if you've never been

his constituent?

[horseshoecrab]

2. Mike Capuano

He's my rep and I find that he is impressive in every way. He's for single payer, but will vote for a plan with the best public option.

He voted against the Iraq War Resolution.

He was once the Mayor of Somerville and I voted for him then too. He actually called me one day to answer a question that I had for him when he was running for mayor!

I'll vote for him for Senator. He's a good solid and sincere dem who can continue the kind of constituent services and response that Teddy provided.

What are the rumors that you've heard?

horseshoecrab

[zippy890]

4. genral statements from a couple people that he was more interested in his political

ass than issues that affect people. My boss really does not like him and I generally agree with his politics.

nice to hear good things about him.

[No Elephants]

5. Voting against the Iraq War Resolution took real political courage at that time and in

hat environment and emotionally-charged political mood. Not many Dems voted on the War Resolution the way that Capuano (and Knnedy) did. Capugano is a co-sponsor of both HR 676, the universal health care bill, and EFCA, the employees' rights bill on choosing unions (or not). So, maybe one or both of those positions explains your boss's smear of Capuano.

ALL politicians who run for anything are interested in election or re-election. So, saying someone is concerned about his or her own political ass is an easy way to smear ANY politician. Kennedy certainly cared about getting elected and re-elected. So you can't vote for anyone if that is your standard for choosing a candidate, nor can anyone claim that Kennedy was any different from Capuano in that respect.

Coakley certainly is no different than any other politician in that respect. She started running for Kennedy's seat before he died, for feck's sake.

In terms of purely personal style, Kennedy was s a third generation politician and third generation millionaire, whose family experience was totally unique. He was also old school, being a lot older than Capuano and in the Senate for a rare 47 years. As such, Kennedy was one in billions, in terms of personal style, especially these days. But, Capuano is a very nice person.

As far as risking his job, he does. Capuano is a member of the House's Progressive Caucus. Only 100 members of the House out of 435 total members, of whom 256 are currently Democratic, can make that claim. Even Massachusetts has plenty of Republicans and plenty of relatively RW Democrats and not all of the Massachusetts Democrats in Congress are members of the Progressive Caucus. So, Capuano has been taking political risks with his own career right along.

As far as being like Kennedy politically or not, Capuano has voted more like Kennedy than anyone else; and members of the Kennedy family have started to say exactly that.

[No Elephants]

3. He's a member of the Progressive Caucus and he took the pledge not

to vote for a health care reform bill if it lacked a public option.

Voted against the Iraq War.

What rumors? You're smearing someone without even saying why.

[jmm]

7. It took awhile but he eventually grew on me.

I went to high school with one of his kids and I couldn't stand him (not for any scandal worthy reason, he was just really bizarre) but after enough people tried to convince me that the apple fell far from the tree and I learned more about him I grew to like him. Whatever the rumors are about his style it hasn't stopped him from being fairly well liked in Somerville.

[cleveramerican]

8. I like him

He's smart and knows when to keep quiet, when to jump in.
He's a very charming campaigner, it hard not to like him once you've met him.

I think he will win.