[slickr-flickr tag=”MA GOTV Rally 2010″ type=”slideshow”]
By Zachary Sampson
News Correspondent

As the Nov. 2 election draws near, President Barack Obama continues to rally for fellow Democrats across the nation. The president endorsed incumbent Governor Deval Patrick at the “Moving Massachusetts Forward GOTV Rally” at the Hynes Convention Center Oct. 16.

After Patrick’s speech, the crowd’ s excitement peaked as Obama took to the stage. The president emphatically supported Patrick throughout his speech.

“I am so happy to be standing here with one of the best governors this state has ever seen, my friend Deval Patrick,” Obama said.

He also praised Patrick for helping Massachusetts lead the nation in areas such as job creation and education.

“Because he chose to invest in job creation, Massachusetts has created jobs faster than any other state in the nation,” Obama said. “Because he chose to invest in education, your students are first in the nation.”

The president often paused during his speech, allowing time for the crowd’s cheers. His address was met by numerous “four more years” chants, along with intermittent “yes we can” outcries on the part of individual supporters. He closed by referencing the significant impact of the activist spirit pushed by past generations and encouraged voters to get out and use this drive.

“That is the spirit that we need now, and if you have that spirit, I guarantee you, we will re-elect Deval Patrick,” Obama said.

Alex Goldstein, press secretary for the Patrick campaign, said the party does not expect any backlash resulting from the event.

“Whenever we have the honor of having the President, that can be nothing but a good thing,” Goldstein said.

Although the event is not expected to directly elicit negative voter action, the rally was not without conflict. A large crowd of global AIDS protesters stood outside the convention center, holding up signs asking for more funding for AIDS research. Inside the event, a small group briefly held up a banner inscribed with “Keep the Promise” during Obama’s speech.

The Massachusetts Democrats’ goal for the rally was to push the Get Out The Vote (GOTV) campaign for this election, said John Walsh, chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party. Personal signs handed out to attendees filled the auditorium, along with a large banner encouraging citizens to text “GOTV” to a dedicated phone line.

Much of the Get Out The Vote endeavor was focused toward grassroots efforts. The Patrick campaign made the event free, an effort partially devoted to encouraging many citizens to attend the event and participate in the campaign.

“[The rally] was a big boost … for the grassroots organization that Deval is very good at,” said Michael Dukakis, a former Massachusetts governor and presidential nominee and a political science professor at Northeastern.

Politically significant speakers Vicki Kennedy, Congressman Ed Markey, Mayor Thomas Menino and Senator John Kerry worked the crowd with speeches, hoping to inspire action on the part of local voters. Musician and Boston native James Taylor also appeared, playing a few songs for fans and encouraging the crowd to vote for Democrats in his native state.

“Today’s purpose was to bring together thousands of people … and give them explicit instructions as to what we need to do in order to win in the next 17 days, and those things are: talk to our friends and get ready to build … the most historic GOTV effort in the state of Massachusetts,” said Walsh.

The audience grew increasingly energized with each speaker, eventually bursting into extended applause as Patrick walked to the podium. His speech was similar to the previous politicians’, denouncing Republicans as the “party of the past” and encouraging voters to support his bid for re-election.

“Their policies are stuck in the past, ours are rooted in a better future,” Patrick said.

He devoted part of his address to members of a jobs club he met recently in Quincy, who, in some cases, have been unemployed for years. He used these jobless individuals as a rallying point, encouraging attendees to act not on his behalf, but on theirs.

“You just have to ask and hope that he’ll [Patrick] be able to do it,” said Dukakis.

Alan Schroeder, a journalism professor at Northeastern who specializes in media and the presidency, said the rally was a good political move for the incumbent governor in a state supportive of the president.

“At this point, it’s fairly late in the game, and so it’s a good thing for Deval to start closing ranks with his voters, and one way to do that is to bring in a popular democrat-popular within the state,” said Schroeder.

The president’s presence at this rally in a perceived liberal state, could be seen by some as a purely political move that appeals to those who see Barack Obama as more of a celebrity than a political figure, Joe Fitzgerald wrote in the Boston Herald.

“I think it could be construed as showing some concern on the part of Deval Patrick’ s campaign, but at the same time, I feel like President Obama has done this with so many other candidates that he’ s not actually singling Patrick out as much as it may seem,” said Andrew Frederick, a freshman journalism major who attended the rally.

The President’s endorsement does not ensure a Patrick victory, as demonstrated by the failure of Martha Coakley to defeat senator Scott Brown in January’s U.S. Senate special election. Despite this history, the Patrick campaign recognizes this as a different situation.

Press secretary Goldstein said the President and Governor’s beliefs were very similar in how they sought to reach citizens, and they both preferred to directly address voters about important issues.

He said he believes this distinction helps separate this campaign from Coakley’s.

“I think this is a different race,” said Goldstein.

Although this gubernatorial contest is not expected to follow the same path as that of the Martha Coakley’s senatorial bid, the President’s appearance at this rally does not guarantee victory.

“Endorsements don’ t get you elected, campaigns do … this race is by no means over, the Governor and his people [still] need to push, push, push,” Dukakis said.