Copyright © 1997 by the Boston Phoenix, Inc. All rights reserved.
By Dan Kennedy
With Governor Bill Weld openly contemplating a third term, political observers have assumed that his would-be Republican successors, Lieutenant Governor Paul Cellucci and State Treasurer Joe Malone, will get out of the way should he run.
Not necessarily.
A Malone confidant is passing the word that the treasurer might challenge Weld in a Republican primary in 1998. The Malone camp merely may be trying to spook Weld, but the tactic could work. Although Weld is clearly more popular than Malone with the general electorate, local GOP activists miffed at Weld's neglect of the grassroots could make his life difficult if he seeks re-election.
Meanwhile, some Republican activists hope Weld will tip his hand during his State of the State speech on January 16, fearing that if he doesn't make up his mind soon it will destroy the party's admittedly slim chances of defeating Joe Kennedy, the presumed Democratic candidate.
"Every day that goes by is a day that he's hurting Paul Cellucci and whatever chance the Republican Party has of hanging on to the governorship," says State Senator Richard Tisei (R-Wakefield). "For him to play it coy for the next year or so isn't going to work." -- Dan Kennedy