Before anyone writes Deval Patrick's political obituary over the 7News/Suffolk University poll released yesterday, it's worth noting that Patrick has plenty of bad-ratings company among his fellow governors. Judging by the range of polls available online, voters across the country feel better about their (new) federal administration than about any state leader who had the misfortune of […]
Elections
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Watch the video of MassINC’s “No Contest” forum on the shortage of candidates in Mass.
The Bay State's longtime shortage of candidates for public office was the topic of "No Contest: Why So Few People Run for Office in Massachusetts – and What to Do About It," a MassINC forum held last night at the UMass Club in Boston. State House News Service recorded the event and has let us post their […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Mapping a possible Deval Patrick vs. Tim Cahill primary in 2010
What would the political geography look like if Treasurer Tim Cahill challenged incumbent Gov. Deval Patrick in next year's Democratic primary? It would be Faneuil Hall and Tanglewood vs. Plymouth Rock and the Lowell Spinners, if past results are any indicaton. The map below gives us an early, mischief-making look at the contest that may or may […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Haverhill City Council prefers to live at-large
Haverhill gets into the debate over at-large versus district city councilors, but change doesn't seem to be in the air. The Eagle-Tribune's Shawn Regan reports that most of the current nine at-large councilors — all of them white — aren't inclined to make room at the table for colleagues elected from specific neighborhoods: Several councilors including Michael […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
No contest in Los Angeles mayor’s race
We're still waiting to see whether Boston will have its first competitive mayoral election since 1993, but it appears that the political season is already a dud for Los Angeles voters. Phil Willon of the Los Angeles Times reports that incumbent Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa isn't breaking a sweat to win next Tuesday's election: He is now cruising toward […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Blue Mass Group: One-party state may not be so bad
Would a genuine two-party state in Massachusetts lead to the something like the fiscal mess now plaguing California, in which Republican legislators have defied Republican Gov. Schwarzenegger and the Democratic majority by blocking any legislation with a tax increase? Over at Blue Mass Group, Bob thinks this is worth worrying about, and he indicates some skepticism over a […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Is Obama following in Romney’s devious, partisan footsteps?
Marc Ambinder reports on the GOP's shocked reaction to the idea that President Barack Obama might work toward electing more members from his own party in the next congressional election: House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) will soon issue a statement contending that Obama's promise to "put an end to petty politics" is "threatened" as […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Idealism in the age of Obama
Barack Obama's election in November and inauguration on Tuesday present a challenge to the belief system of some of us who were born, like the new president, in the closing years of the Baby Boom. Too young to have been stirred by John F. Kennedy's idealistic call to service when the torch was passed to a […]
Posted inPolitics
Ending the one-party state
As a pistol-packing, SUV-driving conservative in liberal St. Paul, Minnesota, David Carlson knew he was fighting an uphill battle. Still, on the day before the 2008 election, the 27-year-old candidate for the state House of Representatives drove through his district of tidy, split-level homes for a final campaign push. He checked the placement of his […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Patrick’s narrow ethics focus
Gov. Deval Patrick's task force on public integrity today unveiled legislation to toughen the state's ethics and lobbying laws, but it shied away from broader, more radical measures to address why corruption always seems to blossom in Massachusetts. Patrick said no one can legislate morality, but he said his legislation would insure that the "currency of democracy is not money, […]