Category Archives: Boston Politics

Politics in the Blogosphere, May 6, 2013 Edition

Before The GOP goes gonzo for Gomez as Gabrielle Gurley puts it in Commonwealth Magazine, they should read Jeff Jacoby’s realistic Sunday column in the Boston Globe. To Gomez’s refrain that he has always been a Republican, Jacoby writes: “He has yet to tell voters why — and why they should find that attractive.” But that is the problem here – Massachusetts voters do not find the Republican Party to be attractive, especially its national variant.

No one has studied Where the votes are in Boston longer or with more precision than Larry DiCara, so read his article in CommonWealth Magazine to prep for the mayoral race, with a field that may be larger than the entrants in the Kentucky Derby.

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Prof. Duquette discusses Senate Race and Mayor Menino

Connecting Point-WGBY

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For Beloved Boston and Our Marathon

This is no day for the trivialities of politics that seem so important to us on other days. Like many Bostonians I’ve always loved the Boston Marathon, hearing stories of how my Great Uncle Albert ran it in the teens (yes, one hundred years ago) and then watching it with him as a child when he was a BAA official. The Marathon has provided many wonderful moments from the great winners like my favorites Bill Rodgers and Joan Benoit Samuelson to the inspirational everyman and woman that come in several hours after the elite runners. My wife and I and the kids were watching from Beacon and Carleton in Brookline when the kids tired and we headed a home. On the way we heard what we now know were the two blasts, then sirens screaming toward the site. I’ve had so many great Boston Marathon moments and now this is the one my kids will remember. Horrible.

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We interrupt this Senate election with a Mayor’s race

On June 25th Massachusetts voters will send a new Senator to Washington DC.  Then it’s two months to a preliminary election to determine the next Mayor of Boston.  With all due respect to the candidates for Senate, the latter election will confer real power.

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Boston: A City Divided by Class?

Thanks to my pal Jonathon Ginsberg for this demographic representation of class in Boston, courtesy of The Atlantic Cities. It is titled “Class Divided Cities: Boston Edition.” Here is what Boston looks like: bostoncityWEB

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Partisanship and Ideology: Capitol Hill versus Beacon Hill

While Rand Paul’s filibuster was proving that partisan blood is thicker than ideological water in Washington, the Democratic Speaker of the Massachusetts House was looking askance at the tax proposal of his Democratic governor, showing that the relationship between politics and policy in the Bay State is a bit different than it is in Washington.

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Menino and his city

Given his health issues, we might have expected to see a frail man take the podium last night in Faneuil Hall to prepare for his life beyond City Hall.  Instead, the longest-serving Mayor in Boston’s history laid out an aggressive agenda.

He looked great and sounded like a man fully intending on an additional term in office.

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Sympathy for the Herald

You have to have some sympathy for the state’s politically conservative newspaper, the Boston Herald. Keeping up the spirits of its readership is tough. Today’s Front page story (which is actually an op-ed) is illustrative. It reports that Massachusetts Dems are fearful of Scott Brown as a potential candidate for John Kerry’s seat, but are even “more” afraid of Brown as as gubernatorial candidate in 2014.

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Why Didn’t Elizabeth Warren Call Ray Flynn?

Sunday Boston Globe: “I never met her,” [Ray Flynn said of Elizabeth Warren]. “I never said hello, not that I wouldn’t. I never met her, I never saw her, I don’t know the first thing about her.” And my question is, why didn’t Warren reach out to Ray Flynn?

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Ray Flynn Is a Democrat

I was with some Democratic friends the other evening when the Ray Flynn television ad for Scott Brown came up as a topic of conversation. “He’s not a Democrat, he endorses Republicans” was the consensus reaction. But of course Flynn is a Democrat, a particular kind of Boston Democrat – an Irish Catholic Democrat.

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