Are the Democrats prematurely attempting to remove Mitt Romney from contention in the 2008 Republican primary?

It's hard to deny that this is the case, what with their aggressive attempts, both locally and nationally, to see to it that Romney's lieutenant governor, Kerry Healey, does not become governor of Massachusetts in her own right on November 7.

On September 19, Democrat primary voters selected Deval Patrick, President Clinton's Justice Department quota czar from 1994 to 1996, as their nominee for governor. Patrick has been aggressively backed not only by the Boston Globe and a collection of Bay State-based left-wing bloggers, but also by national figures such as Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and Washington Post columnist David Broder.

Why is the Democrat Party taking such a keen interest in the Healey-Patrick race? It isn't hard to figure out. The Democrats clearly sense that Mitt Romney is, as of now, the strongest potential Republican contender for 2008, and realize that if Healey, his second-in-command and close ally, is defeated, it will weaken Romney's prospects for success in the 2008 GOP primary. With Romney out of the way, the path to the White House for Hillary Clinton or Al Gore becomes much clearer. Thus, they plan to use Patrick as a way to launch a pre-emptive strike against Romney.

Will this plan work? While the polls currently show Patrick ahead, there are questions concerning just how accurate those polls are (since most of those polled actually agree with Healey on the issues while officially claiming that they'll vote for Patrick); even if the polls are accurate, it's doubtful that Patrick will maintain his lead as more and more reports surface about his loathsome past as a criminal defense attorney. Healey, an underrated candidate, has been the target of relentless attacks by the Bay State press, but as popular Boston talk-radio host Scott Allen Miller has noted, almost all of the attacks are fundamentally baseless.

The outcome of the 2006 Massachusetts gubernatorial race will directly affect the 2008 Presidential race. The left is hoping that the result negatively affects Romney. Here's hoping otherwise.