Peter Torkildsen

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - With presumptive Republican nominee John McCain's announcement that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would his running mate, not former Gov. Mitt Romney, the Massachusetts Republican delegation has found itself outside of the national spotlight at the Republican National Convention this week.

But, perhaps surprisingly, the Bay State's republican delegates reacted to the news with mixed emotions, not outright disappointment.

"Sarah Palin is someone that is just a breath of fresh air," party Chairman Peter Torkildsen told the delegation at their breakfast Monday morning. "To me it's a winning ticket ... a ticket that's going to help us elect a lot of our candidates in Massachusetts."

Palin was given a round of applause by the delegation when Torkildsen introduced her, and several delegates said they were pleased McCain picked her. Emery Haskell, a delegate from Malden, said he was "pleasantly surprised" by McCain's choice.

The Massachusetts Republican Party had only praise for presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain's choice of  Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate.

"Sarah Palin is a terrific pick for John McCain and the entire country," Chairman Peter Torkildsen said in a statement.

"Sarah Palin took on the old-boy network in Alaska and won.To change Washington, it's going to take a team of Mavericks who have a record of accomplishment in shaking up the status quo."

DENVER -- The Massachusetts Republican Party took a page out of the national GOP’s playbook Monday night, criticizing Gov. Deval Patrick’s primetime speech as all sparkle and no substance.

In a statement, Massachusetts GOP Chairman Peter Torkildsen tied Patrick (D-Milton) to presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama (Ill.) and leveled the same charge against Patrick that the Republican National Committee and their presumptive nominee, U.S. Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), has at aimed at Obama.

“Tonight, Deval Patrick spoke in Denver, but he might have well as spoken in Hollywood,” Torkildsen said, “because what he talked about had no basis in reality and no relation to his own dismal record of broken promises.”

Massachusetts political figures reacted Thursday to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision striking down the Washington D.C. gun ban.

The court's five to four decision in District of Columbia v. Heller set the precedent for the first time that an individual's right to bear arms is protected by the Constitution.

"Today's Supreme Court decision affirms that which many people already knew: that the right to bear arms is an inalienable right, protected by the Bill of Rights of our Constitution," said Massachusetts GOP Chairman and former Congressman Peter Torkildsen. "As the decision notes, this is not an unlimited right. Governor Patrick, Attorney General Coakley, and the General Court must uphold this Constitutional right for all citizens of the Commonwealth."