Trillo (R) Tried to Entice Block (M) Into Joining the (R)
On the WPRO Matt Allen (scowling person at top of page) Show tonight, Republican House Rep Joe Trillo revealed that he had tried to persuade Moderate gubernatorial candidate Ken Block to convert to Republicanism, going so far as to offer Block a leadership role in the RIGOP.
Mr. Block declined and went on to garner 6% of the votes cast in the race for the governor’s office. Rep Trillo’s offer, while quite pragmatic, appears to have been vindicated in one sense: the Republican candidate, John Robitaille, finished the race two points behind the top vote getter, Linc Chafee (I), well within the margin of Mr. Block’s take.
Interestingly, had he been successful in persuading Mr. Block, Rep Trillo might have found himself in a bit of a pickle on another front: he indicated that, when he mooted his proposal to a couple of Republicans, it was not enthusiastically received in that quarter, either.
Trillo: “Ken, you do not yet realize your importance. You’ve only begun to discover your power! Join me, and I will complete your training! With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict, and bring state-endorsed ice cream to our constituents.”
Block: “I’ll never join you!”
Trillo: “If only you knew the power of the ‘R’-side. Ben and Jerry never told you where they got their recipe.”
Block: “They told me enough! They told me you were muddling around with dessert-related legislation while the economy collapsed!”
–Sorry, been watching all the episodes in order while sipping the Dalmore.
It was a smart move by Trillo because he knew Block would take votes from the Republican candidate in the race and that’s exactly what happened. Liberal Linc Chafee is the governor elect today because of Ken Block’s presence in the election.
The great mistake Block makes going forward is if he thinks he and his center LEFT Moderate party have any realistic shot at winning anything. The Tea Party elected GA candidates. The Mods did nothing. They’re a novelty act and if Block runs again under the Moderate Party banner he’ll not come close to 5% of the vote. Lots of Block voters have remorse right now because they know they’re responsible for putting Chafee in office. They won’t waste their vote a second time.
I’m actually pretty sure Ken wasn’t the spoiler in this election. I rounded-up plenty of votes from progressive folks in the city who were uneasy about Chafee, despised Caprio, and would never vote Republican.
Robitaille and Block were big winners from Shovitgate, for sure, but subtracting Block might have just tipped the scales even more for Chafee. Block also did really well in the debates. Considering how difficult it is to get a lot of folks to leave familiar territory on the ballot, I think he earned every vote.
I think Robitaille did much better than expected in the end. Before Caprio’s blunder, most of the folks I know didn’t even know his name.
I predicted a Robitaille win and still think that would be the case without Caprio’s shoveit. Too many Dems deserted him and went to Chafee. The undecideds broke to Robitaille, but with the help of the SEIU, Chafee was able to eek one out.
Chafee, to his credit, has been reaching out across party lines to build a transition team. Still, I just think that’s cloak and dagger stuff and the state could be squarely in the pocket of those who brought us to this situation.
And now there’s no Carcieri to at least complain about it.
Right you are Don.
I think Gov.Walsh and his minions will bring this state to ruin and they’ll have to hightail it out of the area.
They won’t be able to hide behind the “Carcieri”boogeyman anymore.
“They won’t be able to hide behind the Carcieri boogeyman anymore”
I see you’re an optimist. I have a prediction:
The 2012 race for governor will be between Chafee and a die-hard Progressive Democrat. The reasons for our continued economic slump will be obvious to the far-left: Chafee was ‘too Republican’
You and I might think that sounds silly, but over on that other blog, they deride Obama for being ‘too conservative’ and ‘corporate-friendly’.
2014. I’m in bonehead-mode.