I've lived in MA as long as I can remember, and I have no idea. Mom says it's because we had a bunch of Republican governors in a row; the first, Weld, was pretty popular, but then he resigned and his lieutenant Cellucci took over, then he left to be an ambassador and is lieutenant took over, and she wasn't popular. She didn't run for re-election, so Romney had the Republican nomination, and he was pretty well-known. Dunno if there were points against Romney's Democratic opponent.