Republicans are hoping to ride the surge that saw Scott Brown elected to the United States Senate. But on the other side of the political world, Jill E. Stein has her own take on voter frustration and how it could translate into votes for the left in November.
"There were about 800,000 voters that just didn't come out," said Ms. Stein, the Green Rainbow Party candidate for governor. "They just weren't given a reason to come out. They have had their hopes raised and dashed too many times," she said about the apparent lack of excitement among many liberal voters during last month's special Senate election.
"Voters came out for Brown at about the rate they came out for McCain," when he lost big to Barack Obama here in 2008, she said. "But they did not come out for (Martha) Coakley at the rate that they came out for Obama."
Her belief that liberals want somewhere else to go besides the Democratic Party is one factor that led her to announce her run for governor last week.
"If people are actually voting for, like the nightmare candidate, you know what used to be called the nightmare candidate, as a protest, why not vote for the candidate who really represents your values?" she asked.
"There is an enormous welling up not only of a voter revolt, but also for real answers in growing local economies and renewable energy and in a healthy local food system," she maintained. "There is a desperate need for jobs. There is a desperate need for health care and the wolf is at the gate in many ways," Ms. Stein said of the appeal her party offers.
Double digit unemployment, crumbling schools, an epidemic of foreclosures, skyrocketing health care costs, unjust and racially biased CORI and drug laws, she said, are hurting working families. She believes "wonderful solutions" are available, but politicians have managed not to find them.
"I think we are going to see a grass-roots campaign here like we have never seen before," she predicted.
Ms. Stein's entry into the race means voters will see a four-way final contest for governor, assuming state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill continues his quest as an independent candidate. Gov. Deval L. Patrick and community activist Grace Ross are seeking the Democratic nomination. Republicans Charles D. Baker and Christy Mihos are seeking the Republican nomination.
Many voters will remember the 59-year-old Lexington resident from the 2002 debates in the race for governor, when she lost to Mitt Romney and Shannon P. O'Brien, capturing 76,000 votes -- 3.5 percent of the total, including 8,067 votes in Worcester County. She did better in her bid to unseat Secretary of State William F. Galvin in 2006, getting 351,495 votes or 18 percent to Mr. Galvin's 82 percent.
She is better known now than she was in 2002, she said, and she will be holding campaign events all over the state trying to tap frustration over the lack of ethics reform, workable health care and jobs.
"That's why we are talking about change not only to believe in, but change we can actually accomplish," she said. She said her message from 2002 still plays eight years later.