Deval Patrick won a victory in the primary to be the Democratic nominee for governor of Massachussetts that was so large and so sweeping -- that it signals a major shift in the state politics that everyone is still slowly taking it in. It is a victory that further confirms the meaning of Ned Lamont's upset over Sen. Joe Lieberman in the recent Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.  Democrats want real Democrats and they want party and governmental policy reform.

The Patrick campaign issued a press release today with some amazing statistics: Patrick won 321 of the 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth, and every state senate district in the Democratic primary. Details & some analysis on the flip:

Amazing.

A year ago April, when I first met Deval Patrick, few had ever heard of him. Patrick had come out to Northampton, Massachussetts  on a get to know ya tour. We were looking for a candidate, and he wanted to know if it was at all plausible for him to run against the man the Conventional Wisdom thought to be unbeatable:  Attorney General Tom Reilly; twice elected statewide; $3 million raised; nominee apparent.

Much has happened since then.  It took awhile, but the netroots took to Deval and Deval took to the netroots. As time went on, many others saw in Patrick an alternative to business as usual who could move the state and the party dynamically forward. The organization I helped to found, Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts, endorsed him early and ethusiastically, and has become a key component in the Patrick's not so secret weapon -- his excellent field organization.

I could go on, and I have, having been one of the first bloggers to write about Patrick here, and in other venues. But today, Patrick, who leads in most polls has earned the endorsement of the state's leading newspaper. Let's hear some of what the Globe has to say in its long and glowing editorial:

IN CHOOSING A governor to run the state, voters look for executive experience, wise issue positions, and the intangible quality of leadership. It is a rare thing when a candidate has all three. We believe Massachusetts Democrats and independent voters have such a person in Deval Patrick. The Globe strongly endorses his candidacy in the gubernatorial primary Sept. 19.

More on the flip.

When Deval Patrick began his campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor of Massachusetts last year, he had zero name recognition. Attorney General Tom Reilly seemed like the all-but-inevitable Democratic nominee. He had been a fixture of state politics for 25 years. He had raised $3 million.  All of the leading potential Democratic challengers opted to stay out of the race.

But Deval Patrick decided to take him on. "Deval who?", people asked.

Patrick had been best-known for heading the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in the Clinton administration. He later served as general counsel and as a senior executive at Coca-Cola and Texaco, companies that had brought him in as an agent of corporate reform. But long before all that -- he litigated voting rights cases and represented death row inmates as a lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He had a rich and varied career before deciding to return to public service via the tough road of statewide electoral politics. His family had lived in the state for many years and he had been active in politics, but he had never before run for office and was not known to electorate. So, he has taken the time to go out and talk to people and let them get to know him.  He has run an authentic grassroots -- and a netroots -- campaign.  He was the first statewide candidate for any statewide office to give interviews to bloggers.  I was an early supporter, and many MA political bloggers have since joined me in endorsing Patrick, notably Blue Mass Group.

Unlike most squeamish inside the beltway types, he is forthrightly prochoice and unequivocally pro-marriage equality.  He is calm, knowledgeable and principled in his discussion of these matters -- like he is on everything else. If he wins the primary, he has a good shot at being the first African-American governor of Massachusetts. And if he wins the general election, he will not only have a Democratic legislature to work with, but one that has been considerably improved in recent years. If the country wants to see what a Democratic agenda can look like, we are poised to do it right here.

But I am getting way ahead of my story.

Deval Patrick, a progressive, reform candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Massachusetts received a big boost today. In a conference call with Massachusetts political bloggers, Jim Dean, Chairman of Democracy for America (DFA), announced its support for Patrick. DFA, which describes itself as "a political action committee dedicated to supporting fiscally responsible, socially progressive candidates at all levels of government-from school board to the presidency," was founded following the following the 2004 presidential campaign of Howard Dean.

Dean described Deval Patrick as "a truth teller" who is "not afraid to make tough choices." He also said that Patrick epitomizes the kind of candidate who is not so much about left vs.right, but the "the culture of activism vs. the culture of incumbency." Indeed, Patrick spoke passionately of how he seeks for his campaign to be one of inclusion, and that like the Dean campaign, he wants to inspire those who have checked out of civil and electoral life, to "check back in." Patrick believes that national politics has been "hijacked by deeply cynical people" and that for him, the DFA endorsement is one further way of reaching out to and empowering an active citizenry in Massachusetts.

"Deval is inspiring people to get involved the process," Dean said, "and empowering people to be involved, and to have a real stake in this thing."

Tired of all the huffery and puffery and bloviations of all kinds out here in the blogosphere?  Think it might be time for some people to put up or shut up about the '06 elections?

I have always been impressed by a political aphorisim coined by veteran conservative activist Morton Blackwell. He says that which ever side has the most and best activists wins.  

So, umm, what has your side got?

"All politics is local." So said the late speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Tip O'Neill. I think he would agree that politics is also built on personal political relationships. Back in the day, when O'Neill was coming up, everybody knew everybody in the neighborhoods of Boston. Who you knew, who knew your family, mattered. But those kinds of neighborhoods and those kinds of relationships are rarer these days. Society is more transient. Far fewer people live in the towns, let alone the neighborhoods where they grew up.

Many of us are more isolated from the communities we live in. We are disconnected from politics and government. We don't know our city councilors or our state representatives. Voter participation is far lower than any other industrial democracy. Politics is ruled by big money, political consultants, ad agencies and television.

But there are deep rumblings and tremors in the body politic that may change that.

The race for governor of Massachusetts was thrown into turmoil on Wednesday when the just-selected running mate of Democratic front runner Attorney General Tom Reilly, abruptly quit the race. The Associated Press reports that  State Rep. Marie St. Fleur was exposed as having "tax and loan delinquencies."  The news was so startling that the wire story has been picked up all over the country and in Europe.

There are two candidates for the Democratic nomination for governor of Massachusetts this year. One is a statewide elected official who has raised $3.7 million from fat cats and has padded his office payroll with highly-paid public relations staff. The other has been a civil rights leader, government official and corporate lawyer. He is running a grassroots campaign with a large and enthusiastic volunteer field organization.

The media have generally touted the former as the inevitable candidate and dismissed the latter as having an uphill climb from political obscurity.

But the tipping point may have arrived.

There will be an initiative on the Massachusetts ballot in 2008 that will take the drawing legislative districts out of the smoke filled room -- where they can be drawn in the light of day by an independent commission. Sound good?  It is.

But it will only happen if organizers can collect 100,000 signatures in the next few weeks. They are about half way there. They actually need about 65,000 valid sigs, but old hands say they need 100 to get 65. Will they make it?  I hope so.