Some might think that the biggest career boost to come from the Democratic National Convention in Boston this week would be for John Kerry, John Edwards, or perhaps Hillary Clinton. But that blessing may indeed go to Fox News Sunday Power Player of the Week, radio talk show host Howie Carr (free registration required):

There’s a reason Massachusetts keeps electing Republican governors

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University of Massachusetts-Boston political scientist Paul Watanabe offers some conventional reasons for the GOP’s success in governors’ races: The Republicans have fielded much better candidates, and independents are increasingly influential and open to voting for the GOP.

But that doesn’t fully explain why Democrats make up 85 percent of the state legislature but no Democrat can get elected to the top state job. The Howie Carr theory does. Essentially, it holds that while Massachusetts may be passionately liberal, many Massachusettsans realize that hasn’t yielded a state government of principled liberalism. Instead, state lawmakers are more intent on helping key allies – teachers unions, public employees, advocates of gay rights, etc. – than on addressing such basic quality-of-life issues as the economy and crime. A Republican governor means there’s at least one powerful check on this warped liberalism.

Carr, a popular radio-talk show host and local columnist, has made his name hammering on this theme. “Around here, GOP governors aren’t supposed to be CEOs – they’re supposed to be wardens. No one expects anything of the legislature except rampant thievery and nepotism,” he joked during the last gubernatorial campaign.