The stage is set for a great race between Democrat Deval Patrick and Republican Kerry Healy in Massachusetts.

Patrick was victorious last night in the Democrat Primary outdoing his closest opponents Chris Gabrieli and Tom Reilly.

From the Globe:

Deval L. Patrick, who rose from poverty on the south side of Chicago to corporate boardrooms and a top post in the Clinton administration, won the Democratic Party primary for governor tonight, becoming the first African-American to win a major party’s nomination for the top job in the state.

Patrick far outpaced his two better known rivals, businessman Christopher F. Gabrieli and Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, with strong showings in blue-collar urban enclaves, in liberal and conservative suburban towns, and in Western Massachusetts. He also swept Cape Cod. Early returns showed Gabrieli running second and Reilly a distant third.

Reilly appeared before supporters at about 9:45 p.m. to congratulate Patrick for running an “outstanding campaign” and to pledge to support Patrick. “We gave it everything we had; it just didn’t work out for us,” Reilly said.

Gabrieli followed shortly afterward. “I intend to work hard for Deval,” he said.

The DoubleSpeak tour will be up in Massachusetts mid-next week and we expect to have a great interview with Deval.

The race to replace outgoing Governor and Republican Presidential hopeful Willard “Mitt” Romney is heating up in Massachusetts.

The latest poll from the University of Massachusetts Lowell has Democrat Deval Patrick running neck and neck with presumed front runner Tom Reilly in the primary race.

The Lt. Governor of Massachsetts, Republican Kerry Healey, is vulnerable in the “bluest” of blue states and she definitely does not have the political talents of her current boss Gov. Romney.