I’ve been so busy with the Lamont campaign recently that I really haven’t had a chance to keep up on what is going on in Massachusetts, or on some of the wider more popular online trends. Today, however, I took a chance to try and catch up.

I started reading a little bit about some ‘Killer Coke’ campaign. Apparently one of Deval Patrick’s opponents is trying to criticize Patrick for having worked for Coca-Cola. It is a strategy that I really don’t understand.

I’ve heard people talking about how we need to move our politics to a real discussion of issues and not simply choosing our politicians the way we choose Coke or Pepsi, but making an issue of a candidate working for Coke just doesn’t make sense. Is Patrick’s opponent trying to alienate all the Coke drinkers in Massachusetts? How about the people who drink Minute Maid Orange Juice or Dasini Water, two other Coke products?

Granted, there were issues with Anita Bryant stumping for orange juice and against gay rights back in the 70s, but I suspect most people wouldn’t buy that sort of a connection, or even remember it.

Perhaps it is some sort of hidden racism. After all, what color is Coke? We’ve had some of that in recent race baiting in Connecticut and down in Virginia, they don’t hide it at all. Yet, Coke is not at all like Sen. Allen’s “macaca”, so I don’t think that is it either.

In trying to find what the real story is, I stumbled across this site with a famous Diet Coke and Mentos video. I think this is the real issue. It is a metaphor. Coke represents Deval Patrick. Mentos represents the thousands of grassroots activists that are so excited about his campaign. Combine them and you get something fun and exciting; something that really shakes things up. The word spreads virally and everyone wants to get involved.

To the old guard politicians who want to keep everything carefully under control, it is threatening, but to those of us who savor a vibrant democracy with everyone involved, it is pretty cool. So, help out with Deval Patrick’s campaign and shake things up a little.