Keller @ Large: Deval Patrick Just Beginning To Get Interesting

BOSTON (CBS) - After six years in office, public opinion of Gov. Deval Patrick is pretty well set in granite.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

Last time I checked, his job approval rating was comfortably over 50-percent; his personal approval was even better. And the significant minority of voters who don't like him, really don't like him.

And what with the governor spending more time on the road campaigning for his pal the president and laying the groundwork for his own future, whatever that may be, it wouldn't surprise me to see people starting to tune him out more and more as his final term in office wears on.

Which would be a bit of a shame, because for my money, Deval Patrick is just beginning to get interesting.

Not that he wasn't an intriguing figure before.

When you consider that six years ago he was a successful but obscure downtown Boston lawyer with zero political experience, who went on win a historic upset victory in 2006, win a second term, and become a national figure in his own right, that's not a bad mid-life resume.

But now that he no longer faces re-election, Patrick is starting to speak out more bluntly, with less calculation than before, as he did when we sat down with him for an extended interview yesterday morning.

I raised an eyebrow when he defended government involvement in subsidizing private industry by citing his work at Texaco, and the importance of subsidizing big oil, even if it means occasionally drilling dry wells.

I raised the other eyebrow when he suggested those who want to get tougher on crime by illegal immigrants are willing to inflict the death penalty for a speeding ticket.

And when I asked him how we should react to a recent survey of CEOs who named Massachusetts the fourth-worst state to do business in, he said we should "stop paying attention to that survey."

I don't necessarily agree with any of this, but I do find it interesting.

Politicians often become much more interesting when they feel freed from the constraints of running, and Deval Patrick may turn out to be one of those guys.

Bring it on, governor!

Nothing you can say would be worse than saying nothing.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.