A lot is being made of the new Washington Post/ABC poll, which shows that Mitt Romney is in a dead heat with Barack Obama. But let's go back to the last time a Massachusetts pol ran for president against a controversial incumbent. What were the Bush/Kerry polls like in July 2004?
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We remember how that one turned out.
Oh, and the previous Massachusetts presidential nominee, Michael Dukakis, had a 6-point lead over incumbent-by-proxy George H.W. Bush in a Gallup poll taken at this time in 1988 -- and then had a 17-point lead in a poll taken in late July. (We remember how that turned out.)
Make of all this what you will. We are talking, however, about three guys who not only came from Massachusetts but shared a lack of charisma. They all looked better on paper than on the campaign trail. And the first two lost.
