Word: bellotti
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...Bellotti's move for the party nomination failed badly, however. The usually listless Peabody ordered his party whips to dangle jobs and low-numbered license plates before the corridor politicians at the convention. Peabody won over 80 per cent of the delegates, yet his coalition of factions and baronies began to fragment after the convention...
...Bellotti, by contrast, consolidated his influence in the party as Peabody steadily lost support. A virtual unknown outside party circles two years ago, Bellotti artfully steered his way through the split in the party between the Kennedy and McCormack factions and gained the nomination for lieutenant governor over the incumbent, McLaughlin. Since the governor and lieutenant governor do not run as a ticket in Massachusetts, Bellotti put together his own organization and outpaced Peabody in 1962. Bellotti developed working contacts with legislators while Peabody hung aloof. He maneuvered skillfully over shoals on which Peabody ran aground. In fact...
...Although Bellotti and Peabody seemed to work closely at first, a split began to emerge by last December. Bellotti opposed the proposal to abolish the death penalty and, reversing an earlier position, opposed many of the constitutional reforms. In May, without first advising Peabody, Bellotti filed his own legislative program...
...decision to oppose the incumbent, Bellotti was cold and calculating. Though he is not an articulate politician, he acts with cunning and instinct. In the May primary to elect delegates to the national convention, he ran behind Ted Kennedy but ahead of all other Massachusetts Democrats (including Robert Kennedy). Peabody was fifth. Probably Bellotti calculated that this was the time to run. In 1966, Boston Mayor John Collins would be a strong rival for the nomination. And in May Robert Kennedy's future was uncertain...
Though many delegates voted for Peabody, his candidacy did not stir them. As Bellotti began to show himself a strong contender in the polls, many hopped off the Peabody bandwagon. For those who prefer Edward McCormack to Ted Kennedy as party leader, the primary became a contest for prestige between the two factions. Ted Kennedy had strongly endorsed Peabody before the convention and had worked for the incumbent's renomination. Others were swayed by the ambiguous role of Lyndon Johnson. Johnson made no endorsement, as is his policy in intra-party fights; yet behind the scenes, some suggest, Bellotti supporters...