Here’s Charlie Baker’s Brutal, Searing Argument Against Martha Coakley

Then again, maybe not.

Republican Charlie Baker has been preparing to run against likely Democratic gubernatorial nominee Martha Coakley for at least a year now. So you might expect a critique of her record  to roll smoothly off his tongue by now.

Not so. A couple of weeks ago, interviewing Baker for an upcoming article in Boston magazine, I posed him a fairly straightforward question about Coakley’s performance as Attorney General. I am posting his response here, so you can get the full flavor of it; the transcription is below.

 

 

BERNSTEIN: Martha Coakley has been Attorney General for close to eight years. What’s your letter grade for her, on the job she’s done as Attorney General?

BAKER: I guess I would say that… I’m running for governor, and I think I would be, based on my experience and my skill set and my vision, the right guy to be governor in Massachusetts. I’ve, I guess I would say about Martha’s—I don’t really think about it that way. I think about the way the candidates who are running would perform as governor, because that’s the job we’re all interested in. Yeah.

Perhaps Baker is simply trying to avoid attacking Coakley before the primary. Or, maybe there’s some other calculation behind it. But I have to say: Coakley’s not this hesitant about addressing Baker’s record.