Don Roach: When Will the Taveras and Raimondo Fireworks Begin?

Don Roach: When Will the Taveras and Raimondo Fireworks Begin?

It’s almost the middle of June and the Republican gubernatorial primary is dominating the headlines. Having lived in Rhode Island almost 20 years, the last time this happened was in 2006 when Governor Chafee squared off against his much more conservative opponent, Steve Laffey.

While I’m very anxious to see where Block v. Fung goes throughout the summer, what I’m really surprised about is the lack of fireworks on the Democratic side. I would have thought by early June, Raimondo, Taveras, Giroux and Pell would have been throwing bomb after bomb at one another. That doesn’t seem to be the case…yet.

Last night, as reported by WPRI’s Dan McGowan, the first debate amongst the major Democratic candidates resulted in the combatants not really combating. McGowan said, “The three Democrats rarely disagreed on many of the key issues” and you’ve got to wonder if there really is a choice amongst the leading Democratic candidates? In other words, if we select Pell, Raimondo, or Taveras will we get the same old, same old?

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

You know my answer to that question, but given that Raimondo & Taveras are two of the most influential Democrats in the state – I’m shocked we don’t see at least these two clutching and clawing at each other for seeking an edge in the September primary. I asked this question to a few people this past week and most of them suggested that the answer boiled down to money.

Raimondo’s money advantage keeping Taveras’ attacks at bay

There’s the money that Raimondo has in her coffers and then there’s what everyone else has. What these politicos opined was this: if Taveras sends a political grenade at Raimondo, then Taveras will reap the whirlwind and won’t be able to effectively fight back monetarily. Even though the primary is about 90 days away that’s an eternity for Raimondo to respond, react, and potentially wipe out Taveras if he goes at her guns blazin’.

That actually makes quite a bit of sense for Taveras as he’s continued to lead or be close to the lead in various polls (see here, here, and here). Why does he need to go directly at Raimondo this early if he’s close in the polls but far behind in the money race? As we draw closer to the primary Raimondo’s money lead becomes less relevant because there will less time to use the money to either bring Taveras down or draw in more Raimondo voters.

Ok, so I think I get it from the Taveras perspective but what about Raimondo? What is she waiting for in terms of attacking Taveras? Forget Pell and Giroux for a moment as they are well behind in the polls but what’s the Raimondo strategy? Taveras has great favorable and relatively low negatives. What’s her plan and when will she implement her strategy because the past few months have not really done much to challenge Taveras’ profile.

I’m sure the Raimondo team does have a strategy, or at least with all of that money she’s raising, I assume she’s paying someone(s) to develop a strategy to increase her poll figures. However, we’re just not seeing it at the moment. If she’s going to defeat Taveras she’s going to need to get her hands dirty and hope that some of that dirt sticks to Taveras. Taveras has done well – in the eyes of the public – of building a particular persona whose foundation is built upon averting financial crisis in Providence. That is no small feat but as GoLocal has reported over the last few years, there are definitely areas where Taveras can be legitimately questioned.

And yet, when will Raimondo start asking those questions?

Don is a Rhode Island Republican. Don can be reached at [email protected] or on twitter @donroach34.