Vote for None of the Above

They are two cookies from the same cutter. Both are Harvard alumni with politically valuable surnames who insist they fit within their traditional party ideologies, even though they do not. Both are also longtime statehouse denizens out of touch with the citizens of the commonwealth. Both have shown surprising political ineptitude. And neither deserves our endorsement for governor.

Weld has guided the state through calm seas with neither economic growth nor political creativity. He has made little headway with a legislature dominated by the opposing party. And he has failed to cast a vision for where the state can go under his leadership.

Polls show Weld leading Roosevelt by a huge margin--testimony to the general satisfaction with the status quo in Massachusetts. But many voters realize Weld has been along for the ride, enjoying a windfall from a tax increase passed while Dukakis was in office.

Weld's stands on the issues are hardly worthy of support: His 60 days limit for welfare recipients kicks people into poverty before they're had a chance to improve themselves his police cutbacks to balance the budget reveal a questionable commitments to fighting crime.

Unfortunately, Roosevelt is hardly a better choice. He has shown his political ineptitude most notably in his outspoken opposition to a New Bedford casino, a project that both Weld and the vast majority of state residents support.

Some may find such lack of savvy refreshing, but it is striking incompetence from a candidate who needs every vote he can get. If this is how well he runs his campaign, how well would he run the state?

And his stands on the issues are hardly more admirable than Weld's. Like Weld, he supports "three strikes and you're out," a questionable position from a civil rights standpoint, as well as the death penalty. As some have said, Roosevelt is something of a Weld done.

Perhaps there is something to be said lot choosing the lesser of two evils. But neither candidate can do a good job representing the people of Massachusetts. And neither deserves your vote.