POLITICAL NOTEBOOK: Healey brushes off past AG failures in race for governor

The names stretch out behind her, well-known in state political lore, like ghosts of elections past: Quinn, Harshbarger, Reilly, Coakley. All were incumbent attorneys general who endeavored to become governor, only to fall short.

But Maura Healey's not thinking about the past.

"Probably the shortest that's ever run," Healey quipped Thursday when asked why her bid for the top job in state government might be different from those of her predecessors.

The 5-foot-4-inch former Harvard University point guard launched her campaign for governor this week, and for the first time in the year since the first Democrat entered the 2022 gubernatorial race it finally felt like the campaign had begun.

Game on.

Healey put one question behind her hours after making her campaign official. She was willing to shake hands in the cold, dropping by East Boston's Maverick Square to meet the press and greet commuters under a winter drizzle. She opened her campaign with a hopeful economic message, promising to tackle cost-of-living issues that have long dogged Massachusetts, but have only become worse during the COVID-19 pandemic: housing, health care and child care.

"I understand people are tired right now," she said. "I understand that people wonder if we're ever going to get through this and out of this. And I'm just here to say we are, and we will and we will move forward in ways that are bigger and better than ever imagined."

Walsh opts out

Less than a day after Healey made it official that she would seek the Democratic nomination for governor, former Boston Mayor — and current U.S. Labor Secretary — Marty Walsh said he would not.

Walsh told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer he felt it was an “honor” to have his name circulated for the state’s top job but that he has no plans to leave his current job.

But with more than $5 million sitting in his campaign fund, expect Walsh’s name to float to the top every time a high-profile statewide office becomes available.

Palfrey seeks AG post

Healey's entrance into the gubernatorial field not only shakes up that race, but sets the stage for a wide-open contest to succeed her as the state's top law enforcement officer.

And that contest is likely to include some local flavor.

Before Healey even formalized her plans to run for governor, Southborough native Quentin Palfrey was one of two Democrats who opened campaign accounts to run for attorney general (Brookline attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan was the other).

A Palfrey spokesperson said a formal campaign announcement is forthcoming. The 2018 Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, Palfrey has a virtual fundraiser planned for Thursday, with a campaign email describing the host committee as still in formation.

"As your Attorney General, I will serve as the people's lawyer, protecting consumers and tackling the really big problems we face in Massachusetts today: racial injustice, the climate crisis, and attacks on our democracy," Palfrey said in a statement.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan's name has also come up as a potential candidate. Ryan, a Belmont Democrat, has not yet said if she's running for reelection, and a campaign spokesperson said she has not ruled out an attorney general bid.

And why would she? Each of the three AGs before Healey — Scott Harshbarger, Tom Reilly and Martha Coakley — each made the jump from Middlesex DA to attorney general.

Baker sticks to work

Meanwhile, Gov. Charlie Baker flew above the political fray last week, sticking with the focused-on-the-work message that he chose last month when he decided to watch the 2022 campaign unfold from the sidelines.

The governor rolled out new COVID-19 testing strategies for schools and early education centers, deploying some of the 26 million rapid antigen tests his administration purchased from iHealth to keep classrooms open, and shifting some of the testing responsibilities to students and parents.

First, Baker said K-12 schools that wanted to could end their test-and-stay programs and begin to receive rapid tests for students and staff to take home weekly as part of a new virus surveillance program. Meanwhile, testing supplies to extend "test-and-stay" to center-based and family day care centers will start to ship by the end of the month in an effort to keep day cares open for children and working parents who rely on them.

Instead of shuttering classrooms when a COVID-19 case arises, Baker said, day care centers could test children and staff daily who are close contacts and allow them to stay in the classroom.

Less than full House

An exodus from the House appears to be picking up steam, with news about five women who are moving on.

Claire Cronin gave her farewell speech to colleagues after being sworn in as President Joe Biden's ambassador to Ireland, while Rep. Lori Ehrlich got tapped to lead the New England office of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Framingham Rep. Maria Robinson had her confirmation hearing to join the U.S. Department of Energy scheduled before a Senate committee on Feb. 3, Rep. Sheila Harrington was tapped by Baker for the clerk magistrate job in Gardner District Court, and Methuen Rep. Linda Dean Campbell announced plans to retire at the end of the term to spend more time with family.

House Speaker Ron Mariano must now decide whether it makes sense to schedule special elections to replace some of these departing members or leave them empty until next year. If history is any guide, resignations that occur early in an election year often lead to extended vacancies.

They said it...

"She could run for dog catcher and I'd probably be with her. I love the other candidates and all three of them, before Ben Downing dropped out, are terrific people, but I'm on Team Healey." — Norma Shulman, a Democratic State Committee member from Framingham, commentng on Attorney General Maura Healey's decision to run for governor.

“We got hammered. It was really compounded because we had a lot of people on vacation. We had to force a lot of people to work overtime. Needless to say, the overtime budget is overrun. You do what you can. I’m really worried (about) what will happen with the newer variant.” — James Falvey, acting police chief in Milford, commenting on the omicron variant's impact on his departmet's budget.

Contributors to the Political Notebook this week include Deputy Director of Multimedia Dan O'Brien and the State House News Service.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: AG Maura Healey not thinking about the past in MA governor's race