It says something about the political mood of the moment that during a half-hour interview with the Gazette over coffee last Saturday afternoon, William Keating, candidate for the 10th Congressional district, did not mention once the name of his party.

But while the word Democrat never passed his lips, the word independent popped out frequently.

It’s a telling point, but not really surprising, considering the truculence of the electorate, the fact that the midterm election is shaping up badly for Democrats, and that the seat Mr. Keating is running for is generally considered most likely in Massachusetts to be picked up by the Republicans in November.

Mr. Keating has a fine balancing act to perform. After 22 in the state legislature, he cannot be seen as too much of a political insider at a time when insiders are unpopular. He’s a Democrat but can’t be seen as one who simply toes the party line. He must try to attach blame for the gridlock in Congress on his opponents, but also show a willingness to work across the aisle to get things done. And he must channel the anger of the electorate, but channel it elsewhere.

To dispel any image of himself as an insider, he points to the battle he had during his term in the state senate with Democratic power broker and legendary senate president William Bulger.

“I ran against Bill Bulger for the senate presidency. The thought that I took on the most powerful person in Massachusetts, risking my whole career, a member of my own party, is something that is resonating in this campaign, that helps define me as independent,” he said.

But it made life tough at the time. He was redistricted “all over the place,” he said, from small towns to parts of Boston. But it toughened him up too.

“That particular race would prepare you for anything,” he said.

Now, when people ask what would happen if he were elected and found himself part of a Democratic minority in the House of Representatives, he said: “You don’t know what a minority is until you’re in a race like that.”

As to bipartisanship, he points to a record of being able to work across the aisle, citing examples from his time as a state politician.

He sponsored the Clean Water Act, he said: “One of the reasons I was environmental legislator of the year — and Bill Weld, the Republican governor, signed it.”

He continued: “The estate tax — we had the worst estate tax in the country — I changed it, Bill Weld signed it.”

Of course, he admits that is different now.

“When I was in the legislature, we had partisan positions. But the other people had a legitimate sincere belief that what you were proposing was wrong. But what’s happening in Congress, is they [the Republicans] are fighting to hold things up if they think things are right and it’s a good idea. They do not want success. They’re putting partisanship ahead of citizenship,” he said.

Not that he thinks his party has done everything right. The economic stimulus package had not been well thought out, he said.

“Others said, do it a bit more slowly and make it more targeted. I think it would have been better to be more targeted, to get more spin-off jobs. Nevertheless, 3.5 million jobs were the result of the stimulus,” he said.

Nor would he have supported spending more money on the war in Afghanistan.

“Are we actually going to go after terrorists, or are we going to try to nation-build again, in the most corrupt country in the world? Is our tax money going to nation-build there, or here in the U.S. where people are out of work, where the infrastructure needs work?

“Why are we paying bribes out of our tax money to the Taliban? I want the answers to those questions, as a congressman,” he said.

In the race for the 10th, he is up against Republican Jeff Perry, and Mr. Keating said, “You won’t see a more stark contrast between two candidates.”

He is a strong supporter of changes to regulate the finance sector. “My opponent wants to strip those away, and go back to where we were,” he said.

On the environment: “I’m endorsed by the Sierra Club, Mass Conservation, the League of Conservation voters. He is not sure whether human beings have affected global warming.”

Mr. Keating is pro-Cape Wind, having lately changed his mind, he said, because he could not reconcile his views about the need for energy independence with his previous opposition to the project. Mr. Perry is against the project.

On the war, Mr. Keating wants out. “My opponent’s position is let’s keep going until we leave with honor. Whatever that is,” he said.

And on political philosophy generally, Mr. Keating portrays himself as independent, his opponent as “Tea Party, by his own definition.”

Then there is what he calls the trust factor. “People have gone from anger to fear to just not trusting,” he said.

Dipping into his bag of anecdotes, he came up with an unusual example of his own trustworthiness — his name on the wall at Tilton rentals, dating from the time he lived on the Vineyard, rented a mower, hit a rock and bent the blades.

“They placed my name on their wall of fame for having been among the small number of those who rent equipment, damage it, and own up. It’s still there,” he said.

In contrast, he said, there was “a pattern over 20 years, documented by record, which raises real questions about my opponent’s relationship to the truth. When he was a police officer his employer said he tells bull tales and couldn’t be trusted with a gun. When he went for his last promotion as a sergeant, his police chief said he was untruthful.

“When he was running for state rep, he put down in his resume a college which doesn’t exist. He lied in his bar application.”

Then there is the matter — which has dogged Mr. Perry’s campaign — of the sexual assault of two teenage girls by his partner, and how one victim said Mr. Perry “stood five steps away, and did nothing,” Mr. Keating said.

“One of the center parts of my life was looking after victims, when I was in the senate in particular. That’s one of the reasons I became a district attorney,” he said.

“When we didn’t have a center in our town to reduce the trauma for victims of sexual assault, I took drug forfeiture money and built one. I founded a nonprofit [the Norfolk Advocates for Children] to help sustain them. If I’m elected and I’m able to then receive a state pension, that money is going for as long as I’m in Congress to fund the operating expenses of the center,” he said.

As for his chances in the election Mr. Keating is cautious. He believes he will win in the areas where he is best known — from Quincy to Cohasset — and says the real battleground will be lower Plymouth County and the mid and Upper Cape.

And the Vineyard? The numbers may be too small to make a difference, but it’s more personal than political, he said. After all, he owned a home on the Island for 10 years, a time he recalls fondly.

“People stereotype this as a rich place. But these are communities of great need. People have two or three jobs to sustain themselves. There are huge alcoholism issues. The needs are great. I understand those needs, like the housing issues,” he said.

He made no specific promises for the Island, but returning to his central theme, asked for trust.

“There’s two levels of trust. There’s personal trust and trust that someone will go down and battle out the issues that are important to people that are in need right now,” Mr. Keating said.