Jaime Fuller
The Washington Post
11/5/2014
Bob Healey did not win the Rhode Island gubernatorial race. No one expected him to, seeing as he didn’t plan to raise any money during his campaign.
He did, however, win 22 percent of the vote — 10 percent more than the last Brown University poll had projected — while Democratic candidate Gina Raimondo beat Republican Allan Fung 40-36…
…On Tuesday night, Providence’s Eyewitness News was a bit shocked. A political analyst said on air: “I don’t think anybody expected Bob Healey to get that high. We expected Bob Healey in double figures, maybe as high as 14 or 15 percent, but he really drew a lot of votes. Some communities he actually won, if I remember seeing the numbers correctly. He ran second in some communities.”
Healey, analyzing his own success this year, says that it shows that people are sick of all the money getting spent in elections — and of the endless negative ads that are an unavoidable result. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the 2014 election cost at least $3.7 billion…
The entire article, with video, is at The Washington Post.
Update: Edward Fitzpatrick: How did Healey get 22 percent of vote in R.I. governor’s race with $36?
…Now, you might expect a libertarian candidate such as Healey to draw more votes from the Republican in the race. But he said, “I think we pulled more from Gina. The problem was Fung wasn’t strong enough to pull those people into his camp.” He said he did receive some support from Republicans “antagonized by the Fung campaign,” but his “beautiful coalition” included “Democrats, not so many Republicans, just a lot of people who felt disenfranchised.”
Healey believes he tapped into disgust with politicians, with talking points and with the relentless attack ads (often funded by outside groups) seen in the governor’s race. “My 22 percent shows people are dissatisfied with government, with negative ads, with the 24-hour bombardment,” he said. That theory dovetails with a recent Politico headline: “Exit polls 2014: Voters hate everyone.”…
