It has only been a little more than three weeks since the Sept. 17 Massachusetts primary, the culmination of which saw Professor Robert Reich (HS) placing second in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.Judah Ariel '04, student coordinator of the Reich campaign said the campaign changed the Massachusetts political landscape. "I think the long term impact is going to be the people they brought into the political process for the first time and those who hadn't been involved for a long time."

Ariel also said Reich was popular among college campuses across the commonwealth, including Brandeis. Ariel also added that many also saw him as the liberal answer to a Democratic party that seems to have slowly drifted closer and closer to the middle.
But, Professor Gordon Fellman (SOC), said that one of the main differences between the Reich campaign and those of Shannon O'Brien, Tom Birmingham, and Warren Tolman was an issue of warmth and humanness. Fellman saw the Reich effort as a more personal campaign. "He was a real human being. Not a lot of politicians come across as quite real."

"There's a sort of decency and integrity around him which you don't get in a lot of politicians," Fellman added.

When looking at back at reasons why Reich lost, Fellman points out a variety of potential explanations. Fellman said Reich is still considered by many to be a relative newcomer to the Massachusetts political scene. "He hasn't been in Massachusetts very long." The race was also very close with the winning candidate, O'Brien, getting 33 percent of the votes to Reich's 25. The race was so close in fact, that "some say that he and Tolman split the constituency. If Tolman hadn't been running he (Reich, as secretary of labor) may have sailed in."

Others, like Jonathan Katz '04, believe that in the end it all came down to the matter of Reich's political history. "Despite his experience in Washington during the Clinton administration, I think he was hurt by the fact that he never held elected office."
Ariel said he believes that Reich's contributions did much to effect the direction of the race. He said the Reich campaign helped to legitimize the notion of gay civil marriage as an issue within the campaign.

But, Ariel said Reich's optimism defined him. "(Reich) differentiated himself by his vision for what the state could be like in terms of government working for people. His campaign was really inspiring.