So why has he struggled for traction in a heavily Democratic state with a Legislature that should be on his side?

He blames Speaker DiMasi, a veteran of Beacon Hill who embraces old-school ways of doing business and holds far more sway than the governor over his members. Mr. Patrick believes his casino bill could have passed if Mr. DiMasi, who said gambling would be a scourge on the state, had not pressured lawmakers to oppose it.

“It’s part of what we ran against, and it needs to be called out,” Mr. Patrick said in an interview last week on the day before the House overwhelmingly killed the bill. “We’re going to keep working on it until we get a Democratic process that’s functioning.”

In addition to the gambling plan, which would have allowed up to three resort casinos here, Mr. DiMasi has rejected Mr. Patrick’s proposals to let towns raise certain taxes and to eliminate a century-old property tax exemption for telecommunications companies. But the casino plan drew the most attention and is Mr. Patrick’s highest-profile defeat to date.

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