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Keller @ Large: A Wake-Up Call For Gov. Charlie Baker

BOSTON (CBS) -- When is a landslide primary win really a political warning sign? When you're Charlie Baker, supposedly the most popular governor in the country, but more than 36 percent of your own party voted for a virtual unknown from the far-right fringes.

Consider some of the vote-rich places where Scott Lively did even better than that:

  • In Billerica, Lively ran seven percent above his statewide average;
  • In Everett, he drew 44 percent of the vote;
  • And he nearly beat Baker in one of the state's most important cities, New Bedford.

Baker will now face another virtual unknown, Democratic nominee Jay Gonzalez, who held Baker to 52 percent in their most recent head-to-head polling matchup.

"Look, I get it," said Gonzalez at his victory party last night. "It's a relief to have a governor who seems nice and isn't a crazy, right-wing extremist."

But while Gonzalez can't paint Baker as a Trump clone, he can try to catch some of the same wave of discontent with the status quo that propelled Ayanna Pressley to victory in the 7th District congressional primary. "Now is not the time for us to lower our expectations," he said last night. "It's time to raise them."

Should Baker be concerned?

If he wasn't, would he be ready to go today with an expensive new TV ad campaign?

Baker heads into the general election with huge advantages, money, name recognition, and job approval. But those sound a lot like the advantages Mike Capuano had too.

And keep in mind, Baker beat Martha Coakley four years ago by just 40,000 votes.

Yesterday, Lively got 98,000 votes.

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