She'll go to the mat against the mayor

4 March 2005

Jason the Terrible died in 1991. In the 14 years since he killed off that alias, Mitch Kates has gotten married and become a father three times over. Living in Pittsburgh, he's started up businesses, run his own campaign for City Council (losing by just 45 votes) and played key roles in several national campaigns, including a stint last year as John Kerry's field coordinator in western Pennsylvania.

Kates is now running Maura Hennigan's campaign to unseat Mayor Thomas Menino.

You would think that impressive, but this is Boston. In a town where the definition of celebrity is that you once shook hands with Ted Williams, the thing that really fascinates is Kates' five years with Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment. Is it really fixed? ("Of course," he answers, almost incredulous.) Could you take me down? (No question. A high school and college wrestling champ, there was real substance behind his act - and at age 40, the 6-foot- 5 Kates is still in good shape.)

And, of course, his time in tights provides us with an endless source of puns. He and Hennigan are in the ring. They've got the mayor on the ropes. Yeech.

Mitch Kates has moved on. So should we. What matters about Kates today is not wrestling but politics. The significance of his presence in Boston is the ever-increasing possibility that what we will have this year - for the first time since 1993 - is a genuine campaign for mayor, one that challenges, provokes and gives voters a real choice.

Hennigan announces next week. That announcement itself will confound many who bet the long-serving city councilor (now in her 24th year) would never give up her seat. Hennigan, runs the thinking, is giving up more than a job; she's giving up the career that has consumed her entire adult life. The talk about running for mayor is just a way to garner publicity.

Not so. For months, Hennigan has been unambiguous about her intentions. The pick of Kates is another mark of her seriousness. Although he's never before managed a mayoral race, in conversation he's smart and organized, focused on fund-raising and developing an effective organization. The fear had been that a local operative might hold back a bit, afraid, perhaps, of offending Menino and jeopardizing some future political job. Kates's out-of-town status means he approaches the task unhesitatingly.

Both Hennigan and Kates know the conventional wisdom. Menino is unbeatable: popular, powerful and flush with campaign funds. Four years ago, the mayor trounced Peggy Davis-Mullen in an embarrassingly one-sided race in which he essentially ignored his opponent.

It's different this time, they argue. After 12 years, the mayor's energy and initiative have flagged. His attention to detail is no longer there - South Boston residents are put off by Menino's high- handed tactics on parking after snowstorms, children's pets are being electrocuted on city sidewalks and the streets are a mess. The biggest issue, however, is how the city has changed under Menino's reign. "What a sad state of affairs it is," says Hennigan, "that people can no longer live in the neighborhoods in which they grew up."

But more than this, Hennigan says she will be a different candidate. She promises an upbeat campaign, not one that simply attacks. "Even though I'm running against him," she says, "I'm running for the job." Menino may well be the best-known pol in Boston, but Hennigan is close on his heels. She won't be easy to dismiss.

Good thing too. "The city deserves a discussion about issues, about where we're going and how we get there," Hennigan says. That, she vows, is what she and Kates will deliver.