Two Candidates or One?

Have you Ever seen Michael J. Barrett '70 and Mark Roosevelt '78 in the same place at the same time?

The two front-running candidates for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination seem eerily like the same person.

Both State Sen. Barrett (D-Cambridge) and State Rep. Roosevelt (D-Beacon Hill) are Harvard graduates with moderate to liberal political beliefs.

And they look the same too.

But the two could prove more than a source of amusement--political observers wonder if voters will be able to tell them apart on Election Day.

"The issue is trying to separate them from each other and make the electorate know they are an alternative to [incumbent Gov. William F. Weld '66]," says Cambridge City Councillor Katherine Triantafillou.

The resemblances between Barrett and Roosevelt could also hurt their chances against the third candidate for the Democratic nomination, former State Sen. George Bachrach.

Similarities

Voters trying to decide between the twin candidates have no easy task.

First, they present a similar platform. Both favor abortion rights and oppose new taxes. They also have each come out recently in support of a graduated income tax in Massachusetts.

If politics were a highway, the two would probably sideswipe each other in the middle of the road. They have the same moderate, centrist views onissues ranging from crime to welfare reform.

The two candidates promise to attract newbusinesses to Massachusetts, create new jobs andlimit the welfare benefits given to those nolonger seeking employment.

Theirs is the identical career path: Harvardgov jock to law school to the State House.

And neither of the candidates had an especiallywild social life in college.

Although Barrett admits that he inhaled whilein college, for the most part he isolated himselffrom the prevailing radical social scene.

And Roosevelt said earlier this month, "I wasnot a wild guy at all. I have never been apartier."

Then there is the look. Both are middle-aged,sport the conservative suit of a politician, parttheir sandybrown hair on the left side and avoidflashing a toothy smile.

And they declared their candidacy exactly fourweeks apart at the same building--the Boston ParkPlaza Hotel.

Same Speech Writer?

The two may also share the same speech writer.Bot launched their campaigns with impassionedpleas for economic change and vitriolic attacks onWeld.

"My reason for running is short and simple; theworking people of this state confront an economicchallenge unlike any we've faced in ourlifetimes," Barrett said during his declarationspeech. "William Weld is too comfortable, toocomplacent and too oblivious to do anything aboutit."

Roosevelt's declaration speech--which weighedin at exactly 10 pages long, the same length asBarrett's said almost the same thing.

"I run for governor because the only person inMassachusetts who does not seem to know what thereal world is like today is the governor we havenow," Roosevelt said during his declaration.

Sound familiar?

Both candidates resorted to analogy indescribing their archnemesis Weld.

"His political operatives are pretty good atdamage control, so he passes from crisis to crisislike the nearsighted cartoon character Mr. Magoo,"Barrett said. "From the start, Governor Magoo hasbeen too distracted to do anything about thecentral reality of this economy."

Roosevelt avoided the pop-culture simile, butmade much the same point by comparing Weld toformer President Herbert Hoover.

"They both stood by and did nothing while thenational and state economies deteriorated,"Roosevelt said. "They were both one-termers, andthey were both beaten by Roosevelt."

Barrett and Roosevelt also share the same petcauses.

Both sponsored bills protecting gay and lesbianrights, and both proudly cite education reformbills as their crowning achievements in thelegislature.

The similarities between them go back a longway--all the way to their college days. Both wereinvolved with Democratic politics as Harvardundergraduates.

Differences

Only one major campaign stance sets the twincandidates apart--Roosevelt favors the deathpenalty, and Barrett does not.

But in the rest of their astoundingly similarprofiles, the points of contrast are little morethan niggling details.

While studying at Harvard, governmentconcentrator Barrett lived in Eliot House, whileRoosevelt, a history concentrator, was affiliatedwith Dudley.

Barrett received his law degree fromNortheastern while Roosevelt received his fromHarvard. Barrett is the father of twinfour-year-old daughters, while Roosevelt has oneeight-year-old son.

The two candidates, well aware of the politicalcosts of appearing so similar, are exploitingthese few differences for all they're worth.

Barrett has repeatedly stressed the deathpenalty as the critical issue that separates himfrom Roosevelt--and used Roosevelt's turnabout onthe issue as a dig against his rival.

"There are a large number of issues, includingthe death penalty, where Mark has just changed thecommitment of a lifetime to come out in favor ofcapital punishment," Barrett said in a Januaryinterview. "I'm saddened that Mark has changed hisposition in the hurly-burly of an election year;it makes him look like a young politician on themake."

And Roosevelt has asserted that his excellentleadership skills differentiate him from his darktwin.

"I have a much better record of getting thingsdone than [Barrett] does," Roosevelt said ininterview.

But Barrett and Roosevelt are definitelysimilar enough to cause their campaigns someworry.

Because only one of them will end up with theDemocratic nomination.

Unless, of course, they really are the sameperson

The two candidates promise to attract newbusinesses to Massachusetts, create new jobs andlimit the welfare benefits given to those nolonger seeking employment.

Theirs is the identical career path: Harvardgov jock to law school to the State House.

And neither of the candidates had an especiallywild social life in college.

Although Barrett admits that he inhaled whilein college, for the most part he isolated himselffrom the prevailing radical social scene.

And Roosevelt said earlier this month, "I wasnot a wild guy at all. I have never been apartier."

Then there is the look. Both are middle-aged,sport the conservative suit of a politician, parttheir sandybrown hair on the left side and avoidflashing a toothy smile.

And they declared their candidacy exactly fourweeks apart at the same building--the Boston ParkPlaza Hotel.

Same Speech Writer?

The two may also share the same speech writer.Bot launched their campaigns with impassionedpleas for economic change and vitriolic attacks onWeld.

"My reason for running is short and simple; theworking people of this state confront an economicchallenge unlike any we've faced in ourlifetimes," Barrett said during his declarationspeech. "William Weld is too comfortable, toocomplacent and too oblivious to do anything aboutit."

Roosevelt's declaration speech--which weighedin at exactly 10 pages long, the same length asBarrett's said almost the same thing.

"I run for governor because the only person inMassachusetts who does not seem to know what thereal world is like today is the governor we havenow," Roosevelt said during his declaration.

Sound familiar?

Both candidates resorted to analogy indescribing their archnemesis Weld.

"His political operatives are pretty good atdamage control, so he passes from crisis to crisislike the nearsighted cartoon character Mr. Magoo,"Barrett said. "From the start, Governor Magoo hasbeen too distracted to do anything about thecentral reality of this economy."

Roosevelt avoided the pop-culture simile, butmade much the same point by comparing Weld toformer President Herbert Hoover.

"They both stood by and did nothing while thenational and state economies deteriorated,"Roosevelt said. "They were both one-termers, andthey were both beaten by Roosevelt."

Barrett and Roosevelt also share the same petcauses.

Both sponsored bills protecting gay and lesbianrights, and both proudly cite education reformbills as their crowning achievements in thelegislature.

The similarities between them go back a longway--all the way to their college days. Both wereinvolved with Democratic politics as Harvardundergraduates.

Differences

Only one major campaign stance sets the twincandidates apart--Roosevelt favors the deathpenalty, and Barrett does not.

But in the rest of their astoundingly similarprofiles, the points of contrast are little morethan niggling details.

While studying at Harvard, governmentconcentrator Barrett lived in Eliot House, whileRoosevelt, a history concentrator, was affiliatedwith Dudley.

Barrett received his law degree fromNortheastern while Roosevelt received his fromHarvard. Barrett is the father of twinfour-year-old daughters, while Roosevelt has oneeight-year-old son.

The two candidates, well aware of the politicalcosts of appearing so similar, are exploitingthese few differences for all they're worth.

Barrett has repeatedly stressed the deathpenalty as the critical issue that separates himfrom Roosevelt--and used Roosevelt's turnabout onthe issue as a dig against his rival.

"There are a large number of issues, includingthe death penalty, where Mark has just changed thecommitment of a lifetime to come out in favor ofcapital punishment," Barrett said in a Januaryinterview. "I'm saddened that Mark has changed hisposition in the hurly-burly of an election year;it makes him look like a young politician on themake."

And Roosevelt has asserted that his excellentleadership skills differentiate him from his darktwin.

"I have a much better record of getting thingsdone than [Barrett] does," Roosevelt said ininterview.

But Barrett and Roosevelt are definitelysimilar enough to cause their campaigns someworry.

Because only one of them will end up with theDemocratic nomination.

Unless, of course, they really are the sameperson